Aboderin Isabella, Ferreira Monica
Oxford Institute of Ageing, University of Oxford, 3rd Floor, Manor Road Building, Oxford OX1 3UQ, UK,
International Longevity Centre, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
J Popul Ageing. 2008 Mar;1(1):51-73. doi: 10.1007/s12062-009-9002-8.
International calls and frameworks for policies on ageing in sub-Saharan African countries, encapsulated in the UN Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing (2002) and the African Union Policy Framework and Plan of Action on Ageing (2003), have resulted in little concrete policy action. The lack of progress calls for critical reflection on the status of policy debates and arguments on ageing in the sub-region. In a context of acute development challenges and resource constraints, the paper links the impasse in policy action to a fundamental lack of clarity about how rationales and approaches for policy on ageing relate to core national development agendas. It then explicates four steps required to elucidate these connections, namely: (a) A full appreciation of key aspects of mainstream development agendas; (b) identification of ambiguities in calls for policy on ageing; (c) pinpointing of key perspectives, arguments and queries for redressing the ambiguities; and (d) addressing ensuing information needs. We argue that advocacy and research on ageing in sub-Saharan Africa need to consider the framework proposed in the paper urgently, in order to advance policy and debate on ageing in the region.
联合国《马德里老龄问题行动计划》（2002年）和《非洲联盟老龄问题政策框架及行动计划》（2003年）中所包含的关于撒哈拉以南非洲国家老龄政策的国际呼吁和框架，几乎没有带来具体的政策行动。缺乏进展促使人们对该次区域老龄问题政策辩论和论点的现状进行批判性反思。在面临严峻发展挑战和资源限制的背景下，本文将政策行动的僵局与对老龄政策的基本原理和方法如何与国家核心发展议程相关联缺乏明确认识联系起来。然后阐述了阐明这些联系所需的四个步骤，即：(a) 充分认识主流发展议程的关键方面；(b) 确定老龄政策呼吁中的含糊之处；(c) 找出消除这些含糊之处的关键观点、论点和疑问；以及 (d) 满足随之产生的信息需求。我们认为，撒哈拉以南非洲地区关于老龄问题的宣传和研究需要迫切考虑本文提出的框架，以便推动该地区老龄问题的政策制定和辩论。
