By Firmain Eric Mbadinga
Rodolphe Eva Ndong Ovono looks back at 2018 as the year that changed his perspective on life.
His father had just been diagnosed with a debilitating foot disease that left him immobile. An interpreter by profession, he barely left his father's side for a year, trying his best to ease the elderly man's pain and discomfort.
Rodolphe lost his father, Simon, but the experience of caring for him as he battled illness is something he will never forget.
"What I learned from my dad's illness, I don't even know how to describe to you," the 45-year-old Gabonese tells TRT Afrika.
"People become vulnerable after a certain age. And that's when they need our love and care the most. For me, having spent a year with dad, it strengthened our bond even more because he felt loved."
The birth of Akiky Care initiative
Rodolphe set up Ayiky Care, an initiative for geriatric support in Libreville, after realising that very few establishments across Africa specialise in helping the elderly.
In many African countries, especially the cities, caring for older people is a challenge that can sometimes be a source of generational conflict and even tragedy.
Cases of older people dying without adequate care after their cognitive functions and health decline are legion.
"Lack of social support, poverty, and interpersonal violence rub off on the condition of older people. Evidence also shows that older people are victims of various forms of abuse, including violence, neglect, abandonment, and lack of respect," says the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In Gabon, the only gerontology-geriatrics centre is at Libreville's Hospital Melen. The centre cares for older people admitted there based on a joint decision with their families, of their own free will or on medical advice.
For those who do not wish to be admitted to these retirement home-like establishments, Ayiky Care offers an alternative.
It caters to older people whose children are too busy at work to care for them and those living alone but unwilling to stay in a geriatrics centre attached to a hospital.
Senegalese sociologist Selly Ba foresees an exponential increase in the number of older people requiring special care over the next few decades.
''While the proportion of elderly people in Africa currently represents only 5% of the population, this figure is set to rise to 9% by 2050. This rise will increase the need for social protection and healthcare among the elderly," she tells TRT Afrika.
"It's important to think now about the measures and institutional mechanisms that are being put in place to support them."
Family responsibility
Caring for older people is seen as a family responsibility in African culture. But as Selly points out, many families struggle to take on this role because of economic constraints or fragmentation.
This has prompted some countries on the continent to frame social protection policies and a pension system, but much more needs to be done. Experts believe an initiative like Ayiky Care is the way forward.
Ayiky Care employs certified medical personnel who no longer work in public establishments.
Rodolphe's organisation also collaborates with public and private hospitals in Gabon, offering various elderly care services at home.
This includes the services of trained staff who provide care for fixed hours or stay with patients round-the-clock, depending on the service opted for.
What makes Ayiky Care's story extraordinary is how Rodolphe set it up by dipping into his savings.
"I had some money that I had received as severance after being unfairly dismissed from a large local manganese mining company, where I worked as an interpreter/translator for a year," he recalls.
"Just after we started, I had to close down Ayiky Care for two years because of the pandemic. We have since provided geriatric support to at least 35 residents."
Among the families to have benefited from Ayiky Care's services is that of Yannick Essono Lee, who resides in the Gabonese capital.
Busy with their day jobs, he and his wife contacted Rodolphe's organisation after its launch to take care of his ailing mother.
"I discovered it through a forum and found it interesting. It's often difficult to look after older people while working. There are specialised structures in Europe, but it's usually complicated here," says Yannick.
"So, when my mother fell ill, I turned to them and was not disappointed. The staff, who took turns in the morning and evening, were available, responsive, and humane, integrating seamlessly into the family."
Yannick's mother recovered after spending time at the centre and returned to the family.
According to Dr Louis Niamba, a researcher in demography from Burkina Faso, "intergenerational cohabitation is an important factor in the material, mental and physical well-being of the most vulnerable groups, which include the elderly".
Rodolphe hopes to open Gabon's first retirement home someday and extend his organisation's services to the rest of Africa.
