Thai Red Cross prepares for the care and the support for elderly people in communities.

The number of elderly people is growing: Thailand is currently ranked the third most rapidly ageing population in the world.  In 2015, over 10 percent of the Thai population, or more than 7-8 million people, were 65 years old or older. By 2040, a projected 17 million Thais above 65 years of age will account for more than a quarter of the population.

Thai Red Cross has been piloting the two training modules: 1) Elderly Self Care implementing in 6 provinces and 2) Elderly Care by care givers implementing in 6 provinces.

There were 84 participants who received the training course on Health Ageing-Elderly Self Care and Elderly Care by Care givers by Thai Red Cross’ Training Center.  In each province, 7 trainers conducted the two trainings for Red Cross Volunteers with 18 hours of training courses or 3-day training at provincial or district levels.

In January to July 2017, 12 Provincial Red Cross Chapters have been piloting / providing the TOT training on Healthy Ageing for 84 trainers (7 trainers per province). A total of 2,300 volunteers were registered into the TRC’s system, and 280 elderly patients were supported or supervised by volunteers in the communities.

The implementation of Healthy Ageing Program in 14 provinces will be scaled up in 2018 by the support from Provincial Red Cross Chapters. Moreover, volunteer recruitment in the Healthy Ageing Program will be registered into One Million Volunteers System.

The IFRC’s Healthy Ageing Training Toolkit will be applied to fit local contexts.  The Health Assessment Forms of IFRC Healthy Ageing toolkits will be integrated into TRC’s healthy ageing training toolkits.

For more information, please contact Miss Darunee Poosanasuwansri; Senior Instructor, Training Center for First Aid and Health Care, Thai Red Cross, email: d_poosana@yahoo.com;  Dr.Pornsak Khortwong, IFRC Health Officer, email: pornsak.khortwong@ifrc.org