Covid-19 intensifies elder abuse globally as hospitals prioritise young

When Souzi Bondeko’s grandfather started showing
symptoms of Covid-19 and was struggling to breathe, she took him to a hospital
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, where he was put
on a ventilator.
She dashed home to get some food and returned to be
told by a member of staff that he had been taken off the machine as it it was
needed elsewhere.
“There were only three ventilators in the hospital
and they were in great demand,” she said. “Five minutes later, my grandfather
died. Staff told me they had to give the ventilator to a younger man as it is
their policy to prioritise younger patients.”
The 33-year-old market trader reported her
grandfather’s treatment to Anatole Bandu, the country representative for the
charity HelpAge International. He said: “Unfortunately this is not the first
instance of older people dying as a result of ventilators being given to
younger people. Sadly, older people are seen as dispensable in DRC.”
Discrimination against older people has been on the
rise since the pandemic, according to the organisation. It has heard reports
from many countries of older people left to die from Covid-19 as younger
patients are prioritised – or simply refused treatment amid fears they would
infect others.
At the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in Bangladesh, for
example, health workers were afraid to treat older people with seasonal flu in
case they had Covid-19. In Cameroon, Paa Mathieu, an older disabled man from
Koa village in Centre region, was turned away from hospital despite suffering
from pneumonia. He said: “They did not take care of me, saying there is no bed
for people like me.”
While accessing healthcare has been a challenge
faced by older populations during the crisis, the pandemic has also amplified
violence and abuse of older people around the world.
Chris Roles, the managing director of Age
International, said: “Regrettably, the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated
the abuse and neglect older people were already facing.
“Too often, elder abuse is kept hidden and not
reported; older people may fear retribution or stigma, may not recognise what
is happening to them as abuse or national bodies may not even record abuse over
a certain age.”
He added: “Based on experience, we are concerned
that older people will be sidelined as coronavirus continues to shape the world
in 2020, despite clear evidence they are among those most at risk from this
disease.”
Before Covid-19, it was estimated that one in six
older people were subject to abuse but emerging evidence suggests this has
sharply increased since the crisis, the charity has reported.
Such abuse includes physical, financial,
psychological, verbal and sexual assault. Women and those with disabilities are
worst affected.
In Nepal, calls to the police about the abuse of
older people more than doubled between March and May compared with the previous
three months.
Domestic abuse is reported to have worsened as
families have been forced to spend more time together due to quarantine
measures.
A crisis centre in Kyrgyzstan that received 29 calls
from older people reporting domestic abuse said many of those seeking help had
complained that family members were taking their pensions, especially those
with relatives who were dependent on alcohol.
In Jordan, the Solidarity is Global Institute
reported 812 requests for urgent help during the first two months of lockdown –
more than it usually receives in an entire year. A fifth of calls related to
domestic violence and many of those were from older people.
Asma Khader, the organisation’s CEO, said that most
elder abuse went under the radar because victims had no access to a telephone
or were afraid to speak out.
She said: “Often abuse is perpetrated by family
members they are dependent on, they have no means to support themselves or they
fear they would be threatened.”
Only 4% of cases of elder abuse are actually
reported, according to the World Health Organization.
“Governments need to acknowledge that elder abuse
exists and ensure that laws are in place and used to prosecute perpetrators,”
said Georgina Veitch, the global adviser on violence and gender equality for
HelpAge International.
Often the abuse is tolerated as older people who
have been disproportionately hit by the financial impact of the pandemic are
reliant on relatives for support. Those living in low- and middle-income
countries are worst affected, especially women who were already socially and
economically disadvantaged before the pandemic.
In India, a former school teacher in Bihar told how
her income dried up as private tuition was suspended because of the pandemic.
Namita Mishra, 67, told a helpline for older people:
“I can’t afford any rent, so I stay with my relatives who verbally abuse me. I
have become a skeleton as I eat less in order to save food. I feel depressed
and lonely as there is nobody to talk to and listen to me.”
There is no universal social security system in
India and most older people have to work. But across the country, 65% of older
people have lost their livelihoods and income due to lockdown, according to a
survey of 5,099 people aged 60 carried out across 17 states. About 61% of those
affected were from rural areas compared with 39% from cities. Regarding health,
62% of respondents reported suffering from chronic diseases and 42% reported a
worsening health condition due to lockdown.
Rohit Prasad, the chief operating officer of HelpAge
India, said older people risk being forgotten. “Most of them are unskilled,
casual workers who earn a meagre daily wage to survive. These people were hit
hard by lockdown … a coordinated action play by the government [is needed].”
The charity says it is vital governments do not
discriminate against older people and put them at further risk of ill-health as
strategies to exit lockdown are devised.
It raised concerns that people over 65 have been
forbidden to leave their homes in places including Tunisia, Azerbaijan and many
areas of Russia.
“Any measures to take us out of lockdown that
restrict our rights must be based on scientific and medical evidence, not on
age,” said Bridget Sleap, a policy adviser at HelpAge.
She added: “Containing the spread of the virus is a
legitimate aim but we must not use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Long periods
of isolation are dangerous for older people’s physical and mental health.”