By Sulaiman Stom Korma
In 2016 a tragic incident that has now turned out to be a solution for the aged happened.
Mohamed S. Bah witnessed a scene where a pregnant woman was carried on an ordinary blanket from the Gravel Boom Community, one of the deprived communities in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown to a hospital that was miles away. Amid its deprivation, the community is isolate and unmotorable, making it difficult to access. Whenever something tragic happens, it takes the grace of God to salvage the situation, especially when it concerns pregnancy.
On this day, as they carried the pregnant woman, one of the community members tripped and the woman fell, leading to her miscarriage and her death. That terrible and pathetic scene shocked and dismayed Mohamed, who turned the sorrowful event into inspiration and immediately considered providing humanitarian support to that community and other deprived communities.
“I was disturbed with that incident, the woman, the unborn baby, the negative impact with their relatives; all that came to mind. I immediately called a meeting with chiefs and other authorities in Gravel Brook and five other surrounding communities. Then I started with basic medical assistance to some vulnerable people in those communities,” said Mohamed, the founder of Health Care for the Aged (HCA).
But considering the general situation of aged people in Sierra Leone, which is very appalling and needs urgent and special attention, he decided to establish the HCA to exclusively cater to the well being of vulnerable older people, whom he believes might have contributed in building Sierra Leone one way or another during their youthful ages.
“I am targeting those older people that are helpless and mostly found in hard-to-reach or deprived communities, especially in Freetown and its surroundings. They need our attention and support. That is exactly the call I am adhering to,” he said.
In 2022, there are 771 million people aged 65 years or over globally, three times more than the number in 1980 (258 million). The older population is projected to reach 994 million by 2030 and 1.6 billion by 2050.
The current life expectancy for Sierra Leone is 55.55 years, a 0.67% increase from 2021. According to the 2015 Population and Housing Census, about 3.5% (246,284) of the country’s population was aged 65 and over, of which 47.4% and 52.6% are male and female respectively.
HCA is a health and social rights policy advocacy Community-Based Organization dedicated to working with the vulnerable aged, especially from 60 years upwards. It aims to support the selected beneficiaries with basic health care assistance and at the same time advocate for policies to meet the rights and dignity of deprived aged people who have been abandoned on the fringes of humanity, despite their contributions to nation-building in their productive years.
Since its inception in 2016, the organization has embarked on a series of interventions to better the health and other conditions of older people in some deprived communities in Western Area Urban and Rural, as well as in Falaba and Koinadugu districts in the north of the country.
Unfortunately, this organization that is dedicated to providing free medical services for the aged is underfunded, as 100% of its funding is generated from a few membership contributions.
“I have been using my finances and that of a few other members to run the organization and [for] the medications we provide for them. We are overstretched now and need support. Therefore, we are calling on [everyone] to aid and support us in his journey,” Mohamed appealed.
HCA has rendered support to over 2,956 people in some deprived communities, according to the organization’s data. Its officials say they provide mobile phones to communities to alert them of an emergency. They conduct screening and provide medication and other medical assistance to the communities they serve.
Six years on, HCA has grown big, but with limited resources to take care of its current number health services demand or to expand.
“We are calling on the government and philanthropists to support our initiatives so that we can extend our work and provide more services to the aged,” Mohamed said.
