Each neighborhood of Tehran has 700 elderly people Many elderly people live with mental and emotional injuries

The head of the Tehran Municipality Health Department says: Many elderly people live in difficult mental and emotional conditions, one of the reasons for which is that they have not learned the necessary skills to lead a healthy life, and we must teach them.

Head of Health Department of Tehran Municipality:

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan, the head of the Tehran Municipality Health Department considered "isolation and loneliness" to be the most important issue for the elderly in Tehran and said: dealing with this issue, along with dealing with physical limitations and diseases and paying attention to the mental and emotional injuries of the elderly, is one of the priorities of the health programs for the elderly.

Dr. Hamid Sahib, head of the Tehran Municipality Health Department, on the sidelines of the "Ehd Mandaj" conference, which was held with the aim of celebrating elderly couples who have lived together for 50 years, told reporters, referring to the health challenges of the elderly: the first issue that we need to solve is the isolation and loneliness of the elderly, which cannot be tackled without the participation of the public. Physical limitations and diseases of the elderly are other important issues that must be addressed with periodic screenings and counseling services.

Mental injuries of the elderly

The author emphasized: Another point that is not less important than these two cases and requires responsible attention is "mental and psychological injuries of the elderly". Many elderly people live with chronic social injuries or difficult mental and emotional conditions. Part of the cause of these problems is not learning the skills necessary to live a healthy life. For this reason, it is very important to identify these people and provide timely interventions through individual and group counseling.

The head of the health department of Tehran Municipality stated that the training of healthy life skills should be done with the participation of the people and continued: In addition to using experts, we should also use the capacity of the elderly and by empowering the citizens, leave the field of program implementation to them. In fact, our main approach and policy is that the people take over the management and implementation of the programs and the municipality plays a supporting role. From our point of view, a program that is implemented without people's participation is not compatible with the main approach of this field and is invalid.

In response to the question of how the elderly can find out about the special programs that Tehran Municipality organizes for them, Sahib said: There are virtual networks and related groups that play a role in implementing programs and informing about them by recruiting members. Our emphasis is that the people host and implement these programs and the municipality provides the necessary financial resources and support.

15% of the elderly live alone

The head of the health department of Tehran municipality said about the capital's elderly population: "It is not our responsibility to provide the official statistics of the elderly, but according to the latest statistics announced by the relevant institutions, about 13% of the country's population is elderly, and this share is unfortunately slightly higher in Tehran." In some areas of the capital, the share of the elderly reaches 15-16 percent of the population, and even in some towns, the majority of the population is the elderly.

In response to Ambassador Arjan's question about the number of elderly people living alone in Tehran's neighborhoods, Sahib said: Our estimate is that each neighborhood has an average population of about 30,000 people, and our estimate is that about 700 elderly people live alone in each neighborhood. It means something like 15% of these people. It is our duty to identify these people, follow up on their condition and implement programs that suit their needs.

Sahib added: "In this context, we use the capacity of people's groups under the title of "Bay Haqt Zehdan" to deal with and disobey the elderly. These groups visit the elderly and the municipality provides financial expenses related to these services.

Which areas of Tehran have more elderly people?

In response to a question about areas with the largest elderly population, the head of the Tehran Municipality Health Department said: The share of the elderly in different areas of the city is different and sometimes changes. Currently, districts 21, 1, 3 and 6 are the districts with more elderly population, respectively. While the southern areas of Tehran have a younger population.