The Gender Ministry on Saturday urged all to participate in a social media campaign initiated to recognise and appreciate senior citizens. The campaign was officially launched on October 1, to recognise and appreciate the contributions of older persons to the society. As per its pledge, the Government is undertaking a number of efforts to provide better services to the elderly, and it is currently drafting plans to deliver its pledge.
The Gender Ministry is also organising programmes aimed at the betterment of elderly citizens, which is conducted with the collaboration from local NGOs. One of the prominent nation-wide campaigns, titled “Ranveylaa”, was launched on August 14, which features health screenings, in addition to awareness sessions for social workers, medical officers and youth.
Gender Minister Zenysha Shaheed Zaki said that the main aim of the campaign was to emphasize on the importance of increasing participation of older persons in the society as well as family households, to pave easier way for elder-care mechanisms and to attain high levels of physical health and mental health among them.
She further highlighted that all activities which are carried out by in the campaign have already been conducted in Baa atoll and announced plans to carry out the programme in other parts of the country.
img:http://s1.psmnews.mv/images/660x400/14765327099882.jpg|Gender Minister Zenysha Shaheed Zaki meets an elderly woman during a visit to the atolls - Photo: PSM News
Zenysha said that “under the Ranveylaa campaign, all the health workers and social workers have been trained. In addition, an awareness programme which was aimed at older persons was carried out with the coordination of different NGO’s. A health screening program was also conducted in all islands of Baa atoll.”
“I want to particularly note that as media plays an essential role in promoting this, we have invited all media to a “Media Sensitization” programme. The activities of Ranveylaa are programmed to be carried out in the course of time,” she added.
The Ministry is utilizing social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter to promote Ranveylaa campaign. They are also promoting #AguVazankurun on social media to portray and appreciate work done by older persons and called on all citizens to participate in this campaign.
“With the establishment of Ranveylaa campaign we have now started a special social media campaign intended to appreciate older persons with a hashtag titled #AguVazankurun. We hope that a lot of people would partake in this campaign and note the pivotal role older persons played in bringing this country to where it is now,” Zenysha said, and added that “I hope that this campaign is wide spread throughout the country and that all people will use this hashtag to participate and contribute to this campaign.”
Ranveylaa campaign focuses on three thematic areas: participation, caring and well-being to promote issues related to elderly persons.