An Expected Collapse of Health and Welfare Services for the Elderly in the Galilee

30.11.2018

The Arab community faces difficulties in dealing with the challenges of aging and aging-associated diseases, and these difficulties are increasing in severity due to a number of changes that plague the Arab community, including: changes in the traditional Arab family structure due to modernity, the increasing number of elderly people due to the high average life expectancy in general and due to the high birth rates that were in the Arab community in the previous decades. Also, there are other reasons related to legislative matters in the new nursing law, for example, the most important part of which takes effect at the end of this month. In order to place this issue on the agenda of the local authorities’ work and their role in preventing the collapse of the health system concerned with age-related diseases, and to place the issue on the public opinion agenda of the Ministry of Health and decision-makers, the Galilee Civil Forum for the Development of Health of the “Shatil” organization, the Galilee Society and the Tur’an Local Council held a medical conference in the village of Tur’an last week.

The conference included several different lectures and workshops on the following topics: the collapse of the public health system and its repercussions on the elderly in the Galilee, the path to a healthy and effective Galilee by the year 2030, the stages of aging in the Arab community, and the role of local authorities. A large number of specialists, professionals, doctors, and mayors participated in the conference.