Problems of gerontology and geriatrics in the Kyrgyz Republic at the present stage

The demographic situation in the Kyrgyz Republic leaves no doubt that caring for older people is a pressing issue and a huge medical and social problem.

OBJECTIVE. Тo assess the state and development prospects of the gerontological service and to study the level of geriatric care for the population of the country.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. Legislative, regulatory documents and materials from open sources have been studied since 1991. Using the example of Bishkek and Nizhne-Serafimovsky social inpatient institutions, the health status was analyzed and 442 wards were examined.

RESULTS. According to the National Statistical Committee, the total population of the republic at the beginning of 2019 was 6,389,500 people. Of these, the rural population was 4,215,900 people, and the urban population was 2,173,600 people. About 500,000 citizens, or almost one in eight residents of the republic, are older than working age. The number of men over working age (63 years and older) was about 150,000 people (4.7% of the male population), and women (58 years and older) — more than 349,000 people (10.8% of the female population). This means that the number of women in this age group exceeded the number of men by 200,000, or 2.3 times. There have been some successes in the development of gerontological services: the Kyrgyz Republic became a member of the international gerontological network AgeNet International (2005), and the law “On Elderly Citizens in the Kyrgyz Republic” (2011), and an Action Plan to Improve the Quality of Life of Older Citizens for 2019–2025 (dated August 30, 2019) was approved. Despite these successes, the republic's gerontological services do not meet the modern challenges of an aging population, and problems related to geriatric care remain: there are no geriatricians, no geriatric clinics, no geriatric centers, geriatric medical care for the elderly is not provided at the proper level, and residents of social inpatient facilities remain under-examined.

CONCLUSION. The Kyrgyz Republic needs to create a single coordinating body for the gerontological and geriatric services, which will be responsible for its work and development. In order to develop the gerontology service, achieve health and quality of life indicators for the elderly, it is necessary to develop collaborative scientific research and improve specialized training in geriatrics. Coordinated actions of the healthcare and social protection system are needed to help provide the elderly and senile population of the country with highly specialized medical and medical-social care, which will undoubtedly have an impact on prolonging their active longevity.