Cabar.asia

Decent Aging. Is It Possible in Kyrgyzstan?

The situation of the elderly people in Kyrgyzstan is marked by unsatisfactory health condition, low income and loneliness. Human rights defenders also indicate discrimination against the elderly.
RU

Population of Kyrgyzstan is on the edge of aging

According to the law "On elderly citizens", men are considered elderly from the age of 63, and women from the age of 58. Their number is increasing in the country every year.

According to Gulzada Aidaralieva, chief specialist of the unit of development of services for persons with disabilities and the elderly citizens of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Migration, the number of the elderly people is increasing in Kyrgyzstan every year.
As of early 2021, the share of the elderly in Kyrgyzstan was 5 per cent of total population. According to Gulzada Aidaralieva, the population is considered young, if the cohort of people at the age of 65 and older is below 4 per cent in the total number of people. If it is between 4 and 7 per cent, the population is on the edge of aging. And if it is over 7 per cent, the population is old.

Thus, the population of Kyrgyzstan is gradually reaching the edge of aging. According to the UN estimates, this trend will emerge by approximately 2030, when the share of elderly people at the age of 65+ reaches 7 per cent.

Migration and loneliness

A lovely one-room apartment in the suburb of Bishkek. A few pairs of shoes are neatly arranged on the shelf in a small hallway, and a pair of jackets are hanging on the hanger. Pensioner Lyudmila Mokhova (not her real name) has been living in this apartment for the last few years.

"Hey, guys! Come in, please. Would you like some tea, candies?" the old woman asked with a smile.

We politely refused to eat and went to the living room. In the corner of the room, the TV host was speaking about the latest events in the country and in the world. What we saw immediately was the cleanliness and the polished floors.

Lyudmila turned 76 this year. When she was young, she graduated from the Institute of Soviet Trade and was a merchandise specialist until pension. Now the woman lives alone, her only daughter Anastasia with her husband moved to Moscow a few years ago.
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"You know, I am not angry at the state! I am not saying that the pension is very big, it's just over six thousand som. Also, girls from Babushka Adoption help me all the time, they found a good sponsor for me. Before the pandemic, they often took us to picnics, and we celebrated some holidays, for example, the Day of Older Persons, or March 8, in cafes. Now we don't get together."
Lyudmila Mokhova
Lyudmila tries to do all the household chores by herself. Sometimes, her relatives help her. Once a week, a niece with her husband come to the pensioner and they either clean the apartment or fix some broken things.

"When I was young, I had a house and used to have a lot of work to do in the yard," Mokhova said. "Now in the apartment I have few things to do physically, so I am trying to keep myself busy all the time. For example, I have a cat and he is running out of food. How can I leave him without food? So I force myself sometimes to go to a store."

In 2000, Mokhova suffered myocardial infarction. Since then, she has been registered with cardiology and regularly visits specialists.
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"Sometimes, my blood pressure spikes. But my cardiologist knows very well his job, always helps me, says what and how I should do something. Once a week, a social worker comes to me. She always asks me about my health, brings food to me."
Lyudmila Mokhova
The pensioner is saddened by the fact that her daughter had to leave. It turned out that Anastasia and her husband could not find jobs in Bishkek and had to leave for Russia searching for better life.

"In fact, they had to leave," Mokhova said. "And they took my grandson. Of course, we talk on the phone, but I'd rather talk to them in person."
Speaking to CABAR.asia, Aidai Kadyrova, director of Babushka Adoption fund, said that the case of Mokhova, when children have to go abroad and leave the pensioner alone, is not the only one in Kyrgyzstan.
Active migration is very acute in the south of the country. Because of the shortage of jobs, young people leave for other countries in pursuit of a better life, and pensioners have to count on themselves.
Aidai Kadyrova
director of Babushka Adoption fund

An array of problems

Social isolation is a problem faced by many pensioners. According to the Resource Centre for the Elderly, people living in urban areas, in apartments, suffer the most. Because of their age, they cannot walk up and down the stairs, and lifts are not available in all the houses. According to human rights defenders, pensioners often stay home and "just live out their days."

The elderly people is one of the most vulnerable targets for unfair citizens. Because of their credulity, pensioners become victims of swindlers, and the number of such cases has increased in the last 4 years. According to the General Prosecutor's Office, from 2018 to October 2021 there were 2,050 facts of frauds against the elderly people registered.
See also: Helping Out: How to Differ Between Charity and Charity Fraud?

Ageism or age discrimination is another problem found almost in the entire world, and Kyrgyzstan is not the exception. According to the Resource Centre for the Elderly, age discrimination means change in the attitude towards a person for reason of their age, which is the ground for violation of old people's rights.
Even pension being a guaranteed income provided by the state does not provide the elderly people with the required living standard.
Svetlana Bashtovenko
chief of the Resource Centre for the Elderly
The amount of the average pension in Kyrgyzstan is 6,248 som (73.69 dollars), and the minimum subsistence level is 6,332 som (74.69 dollars). According to Aidai Kadyrova, director of Babushka Adoption Fund, some pensioners in Kyrgyzstan receive pensions that are below the minimum subsistence level, especially those living in rural areas, who have limited work experience.
Of course, this money is not enough to meet any needs. Many people who are older than 60 have a whole bunch of chronic diseases. Almost 50 per cent of their money is spent to buy medications, sometimes they don't have money to buy food.
Aidai Kadyrova
director of Babushka Adoption fund
In order to support single pensioners financially, public foundations constantly search for sponsors who are ready to help and give care to single old people. However, according to Kadyrova, it is more difficult to find them in the last two years. The reason was the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

One social worker for 14 persons

Antonina Yershova (not her real name), despite her age, 83, does not like to sit idly. When we approached her house, we found her gathering leaves in the yard.

"I decided to clean the area while it is warm," the pensioner said in response to our greeting. "When the weather gets really bad, I won't be able to sweep the yard!"

She has been living alone for 11 years. Antonina's father was the chief of a partisan detachment in the military time at Brest. According to Yershova, she spent her childhood and adolescence in severe partisan conditions.
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"By destiny, I came to Kyrgyzstan in 1986. My friend came here to enter the university, and I went together with her. Finally, I entered the financial college, and then, after I graduated, I worked as a teacher."

Antonina Yershova
For almost 40 years, the woman was teaching future accountants of agriculture: she taught accounting, economy and planning of agriculture. She was a teacher to many students from Congo, as well. Antonina Yershova does not have close relatives in Kyrgyzstan – almost all of them live in Russia, and her only son died 11 years ago.

According to Yershova, she receives state pension up to seven thousand som per month (82.56 dollars). Babushka Adoption fund helps her significantly – they found a sponsor for the old woman who helps her with money and food. It would be difficult for the woman without the fund and the sponsor.
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"Once in two months, my district doctor visits me, prescribes medications that I need. Sometimes, a social worker visits me and helps me around the house. This is how I live."
Antonina Yershova
According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, 915 social workers across Kyrgyzstan provide free help to the elderly citizens and married couples. They buy and deliver food, manufactured goods, help cook food, pay for utilities, assist in preparing documents, call medical personnel, if needed, and organise funeral services.

According to Gulzada Aidaralieva, this number of social workers is not enough for the country. Many of them serve 12-14 persons in cities and villages. Moreover, social workers not only give care to lone pensioners, but also visit persons with disabilities and children who found themselves in difficult situations.

However, according to Aidaralieva, the total monthly wage of social workers barely exceeds 10 thousand som (118 dollars). Given low wages, they often face difficult situations and also need help from the state.
Social worker Kyial Dzhanuzakova serves pensioners in Leninsky district of Bishkek. The woman has been working in this sphere for 15 years. According to her, she has difficulties mainly when some of her care recipients get ill – this is when she needs to visit pensioners more often. It was difficult during the lockdown period in 2020.
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"We had to distribute humanitarian aid and visit pensioners almost simultaneously. But, despite all physical obstacles, we cannot leave our old people alone. They wait for us, so we need to visit them at any time of the year and under any circumstances."
Kyial Dzhanuzakova
A few years ago, her wage was 6.5 thousand som (76.66 dollars). Then local authorities decided to add bonuses to her wage in the amount of 4 thousand som (47.18 dollars). Plus, social workers are given 500 som on transportation costs (5.90 dollars).
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"Of course, it is unreal to live on this money. We always raise the issue of pay rise, we speak about it almost every year. However, to no avail."
Kyial Dzhanuzakova

Access to healthcare services

Dim light and things scattered around the rooms. Apparently, the apartment hasn't been cleaned for a long time.

"Don't mind the mess. I live alone, I don't need any cleaning," the house owner told us once we entered.

Ravil Abdullaev (not his real name) is 65. He was born in Osh region, completed the night school in Tokmok, and worked as electrician for more than 30 years. Now the pensioner has eye problems, so he had to quit his job associated with screw guns, wires and other equipment.

The man did not want to talk about access to various services. The only thing he said was that he had problems in hospitals at times.
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"But now I have a good general practitioner. I could find a professional. It has been well said that it is not necessary to be a doctor, but it is important to be humane. My general practitioner is very humane. It's a pity that not all hospitals have good doctors. Some doctors change their attitude to a patient once they see a pensioner. What's the use of us? We cannot give much money as we run short of it."
Ravil Abdullaev
The man did not want to talk about the family and children. He is not very pleased when social workers want to visit him. According to him, he can do without them so far.
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"I won't be complaining to you about my life! I am the man and must bear all hardships. I am lucky to live in the city, everything is close to me. You should go to the regions, provinces, to see how people live there! I would love to go with you and help them as much as I could. But I can't, unfortunately."
Ravil Abdullaev
According to Aidai Kadyrova, many people of the older generation are not used to complaining about life.

"This is because they have Soviet education, fear of censorship, or something else," Kadyrova said. "Plus some pensioners have survived the war and famine. And many of them think that nothing can be worse than the war time. In fact, the elderly people face a lot of obstacles."
According to the Resource Centre for the Elderly, sometimes pensioners do not have access to proper medical and social help because of their age. According to beneficiaries, the emergency ambulance is in no haste to come to them, so they need to hide their real age. The elderly people know that they won't get medical help on time if they tell that they are over 60.

Moreover, the aged people need to undergo health checks based on gerontology (the study of aging and related changes – author's note) and geriatrics (a specialty of gerontology, which studies aging and prevents age-related diseases – author's note). According to Aidai Kadyrova, this area is poorly developed in Kyrgyzstan, and the elderly people attend general practitioners in parallel with children and other patients.

"However, it should not be like this. Pensioners have their peculiarities, which health workers must know and treat properly," Kadyrova said.
She added that the Babushka Adoption fund together with leading professors of the country successfully insisted that residents and general practitioners should have free access to gerontology and geriatrics courses. This is what raised the awareness of the public and decision-makers.

In turn, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Kyrgyzstan has no gerontologists and geriatricians. These functions are assigned to general practitioners.
General practitioners undergo continuous training. Also, they can undergo special training in gerontology and geriatrics. In general, our agency holds many information events, research works, and PhD work. This is done to improve medical aid to the elderly people.
Nurgul Ibraeva
chief specialist of the Office for medical help organisation of the Ministry of Health

Socialisation is crucial

A person who retires must continue to be useful for the society, according to Aidai Kadyrova. According to her, in 2019, when the plan of events to improve life quality of the elderly people was prepared, Babushka Adoption Fund suggested to the government to create special day centres across the country.

"In these centres, the elderly people would gather, find hobbies, and even create some useful projects for the society. These things would ensure that the brainwork and mentality of pensioners would be kept at a proper level and prevent such diseases as dementia, Alzheimer disease, etc.," Kadyrova said.

And good health of pensioners would ease the work of the state, i.e. reduce the burden on the social security and healthcare authorities, she said.
Decent aging means observation of elementary human rights, access to healthcare, correct treatment of diseases, and pension that is enough not only for medications, but also for other needs.
Aidai Kadyrova
director of Babushka Adoption fund
The authorities agreed to open centres for the elderly people, but it doesn't go any further.

According to human rights defenders, it is real to bridge the gaps in the system. By the way, not all measures require huge investments. What these people need is attention and understanding because all of us would be old one day.

"And only when we solve all these problems, the expression "decent aging" will be applicable to our pensioners," Kadyrova said.
Author: Aigerim Konurbaeva
Editing and layout: Natalia Lee