ABSTRACT
This chapter conducts a systematic review of the extent that the recommendations inherent in the Madrid International Action Plan on Ageing were implemented in the Eastern and Central African region. The population of older persons in this region is projected to increase from 9 million in 2013 to 72 million in 2050, which will result in various challenges and opportunities associated with population ageing. In response to the Madrid Plan, a key achievement has been the establishment of social protection systems to safeguard older persons from economic, social, and health challenges in the wake of the weakening of traditional familial and kinship support systems. Moreover, older persons’ rights have been recognised as constitutional rights in an effort to protect them from abuse and other forms of neglect and maltreatment. However, the region has stagnated in the provision of quality healthcare for older persons due to a lack of specialist geriatric training in medical schools, low budgetary allocations to the health sectors, and lack in adequate diagnostic systems for common old age diseases. The situation has been exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 which has disproportionately affected older persons and consequently constrained the already overburdened healthcare systems.
