Strengthen support systems for older persons
Growing older is a natural part of the life course. Yet, ageing is too often discussed mainly through dependency, illness, poverty and the need for care. These are important realities, but they do not define the whole experience of later life, writes Dr Dianah Aharimpisya
Dr Dianah Aharimpisya. (Courtesy)
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OPINION
By Dr Dianah Aharimpisya
As Uganda joins the world to commemorate the International Day of Older Persons today, we are invited to reflect on a fundamental question: what does it really mean for a person to grow older with dignity? Aging with dignity is not simply about living longer. It is about being respected, heard, protected and supported throughout later life, while retaining choice, purpose and opportunities to contribute to family, community and society.
The theme, Aging with Dignity: Strengthening Care and Support Systems, provides an important opportunity to rethink how we understand ageing. It reminds us that care should not be viewed only as something done for older persons. Strong care and support systems should enable older persons to remain active participants in their own lives and in the lives of those around them.
In Uganda, the national celebration provides an opportunity not only to celebrate older persons, but also to examine whether our families, communities, health systems, social protection programmes and institutions are creating the conditions necessary for people to age with dignity.
This means more than living longer
Growing older is a natural part of the life course. Yet, ageing is too often discussed mainly through dependency, illness, poverty and the need for care. These are important realities, but they do not define the whole experience of later life.
Older persons continue to care for grandchildren, support family members, participate in agriculture and small businesses, provide mentorship, preserve cultural knowledge, resolve conflicts and contribute to community life. Much of this work is unpaid and, therefore, easily overlooked.
A dignity-centred approach, therefore, recognises both realities: older persons may need care and support, while at the same time they remain people with abilities, aspirations, relationships, rights and valuable experience. Needing support should never mean losing one’s voice, identity or place in society.
Strengthening Care and Support Systems
Aging with dignity requires care and support systems that respond to the diverse circumstances of older persons. Some may remain independent and active, while others may need assistance with health conditions, mobility, daily activities or emotional and social well-being. Support systems must, therefore, be flexible, accessible and responsive rather than assuming that all older persons have the same needs.
Health services have an important role to play. Older persons should be able to access services that are respectful, age-friendly and responsive to chronic conditions and the changing care needs. Care should be co-ordinated and should recognise the person as a whole, including physical, psychological, social and functional needs.
But care does not happen only in health facilities. Families, communities, social workers, community-based structures and other support networks are central to the well-being of older persons.
Strengthening these systems means ensuring that those who provide care also receive information, guidance, practical support and recognition.
Family caregivers should not be expected to carry the entire responsibility without support. When an older person provides care to grandchildren or another family member, that contribution also deserves recognition.
Supporting older caregivers is, therefore, part of strengthening the family and community systems on which many Ugandan households depend.
Dignity Requires Choice, Voice, Participation
Care should never mean taking away an older person’s autonomy. Wherever possible, older persons should participate in decisions concerning their health, living arrangements, finances, family relationships and other matters affecting their lives.
Listening to older persons is, therefore, essential. They should not only be spoken about; they should be heard, consulted and represented. Their lived experiences can help families, service providers and policymakers understand what works, what does not work and what needs to change.
A strong care system is one that supports people without unnecessarily taking control away from them. Dignity is strengthened when older persons have meaningful choices and when their preferences and experiences are respected.
Protection from Abuse, Neglect, exploitation
Aging with dignity also requires protection from abuse, neglect and exploitation.
Older persons may experience mistreatment within families, communities or institutions, and some may be reluctant or unable to report what is happening to them.
Protection should also extend to older persons who are socially or economically vulnerable. Social support and protection from exploitation can help reduce circumstances in which dependence exposes older persons to avoidable harm.
Older Persons Are Contributors, Not Burdens
Strengthening care systems should not unintentionally reinforce the idea that older persons are only recipients of assistance. Older persons are contributors whose experience can continue to benefit families, communities and the wider society.
An older person may carry decades of knowledge about family life, agriculture, education, entrepreneurship, community leadership, culture, caregiving and social change. Creating spaces for this knowledge to be shared can strengthen relationships between generations.
Intergenerational programmes can bring younger and older people together. Schools and universities can create opportunities for mentorship and knowledge exchange. Communities can involve older persons in local initiatives and decision-making. In this way, care and participation become complementary rather than competing ideas.
The Contribution of Older Persons to Families
In many Ugandan families, older persons remain an important source of support. Grandparents and other older relatives may provide childcare, guidance and emotional support. They may preserve family histories and cultural identity and support younger family members during periods of unemployment, bereavement, migration or economic hardship.
However, these contributions can easily be taken for granted. We should not assume that older people have unlimited capacity to provide care simply because they have traditionally done so. A dignity-centred approach recognizes their contribution while also asking what support they need.
Ageing Should Not Mean Exclusion
Aging with dignity also requires us to confront ageism. Older persons can be stereotyped or excluded because society assumes that their productive years have ended or that they are unable to learn, adapt or participate.
Chronological age does not automatically determine a person’s capacity, aspirations or contribution. Healthy and dignified ageing should include opportunities for older persons to remain socially connected, economically active where appropriate, physically and mentally well, respected and engaged in decisions affecting their lives.
What Stronger Support Systems Should Look Like
If we are serious about aging with dignity, strengthening care and support systems should include practical action across families, communities, services and policy. This means working towards:
-accessible, respectful and age-friendly health and social services;
-coordinated support for older persons with chronic and changing care needs;
-social protection that promotes dignity, security and independence;
-support for family and community caregivers, including older persons who provide care;
-protection from abuse, neglect, discrimination and exploitation;
-age-friendly physical and social environments;
-opportunities for lifelong learning, appropriate work and entrepreneurship;
-meaningful participation of older persons in community and national decision-making;
-stronger intergenerational relationships and knowledge exchange; and
-recognition of older persons as rights-holders, citizens and contributors.
Aging is a shared human experience. The older persons we celebrate today are part of the history that created the society we inherit. They have witnessed enormous changes and have contributed to families, communities and institutions in ways that are sometimes undocumented.
Young people bring innovation, technology and new perspectives. Older persons bring experience, memory, wisdom and lessons from lived experience. When generations listen to and support one another, communities can become stronger.
The question is therefore not whether one generation should care for another. The question is how we build relationships and systems in which generations can support one another across the life course.
From Celebration to Action
As Uganda commemorates the International Day of Older Persons, the celebration should go beyond speeches and ceremonies. It should prompt us to examine whether our systems are enabling people to age with dignity.
Are health and social services sufficiently responsive to older persons? Do families and community caregivers have the support they need? Are older persons protected from abuse and neglect? Do social protection systems provide meaningful security? Are older persons included in decisions affecting their lives? And are we recognizing their continuing contributions rather than defining them only by their care needs?
Most importantly, we must listen to older persons themselves. Their voices should inform the design, implementation and evaluation of the care and support systems intended to serve them.
Re-Imagining Ageing in Uganda
Uganda’s changing age structure calls for a renewed understanding of later life. We need to move away from viewing ageing simply as a problem to be managed and towards a life-course approach in which dignity, care, participation and contribution are connected.
A society that values older persons invests in the systems that enable them to live safely and with purpose. It recognizes that care is not a sign of failure or worthlessness. At different points in life, people give care, receive care, or do both. The goal should be to ensure that care is provided in ways that protect dignity, autonomy, relationships and quality of life.
Let Us Change the Narrative
The International Day of Older Persons 2026 gives Uganda an opportunity to change
the narrative around ageing.
Let us move from seeing care as dependency to understanding care as a shared social responsibility.
From treating older persons as invisible to ensuring their participation.
From stereotypes to recognition.
From isolation to stronger support systems.
And from simply asking how society can care for older persons to asking how we can build systems that allow people to age with dignity, choice, security and purpose.
Closing Message
Aging with dignity is about more than adding years to life. It is about ensuring that those years are lived with respect, support, connection, choice and meaning.
As we commemorate the International Day of Older Persons 2026, let us strengthen the
families, communities, services and systems that support older persons. Let us recognize the care they give, the care they may need, the knowledge they carry and the contributions they continue to make.
Let us build a Uganda in which growing older does not mean losing one’s voice, identity or place in society but entering a stage of life in which dignity remains protected and contribution remains possible.
The writer is a member of the National Co-ordination Committee for Older Persons and a lecturer in the department of social work at Makerere University