Published: October 22, 2024
Within the framework of the Social Work Day celebrations, the discussion was held: ‘The role of social work: public policy in relation to care and rights’, where experts in the field addressed current challenges and opportunities to strengthen social well-being and human rights. in old age.
This meeting recognized the work of social work professionals, who dedicate their efforts every day to building a fairer, more just and supportive society. This is an important time to reflect on the aging of the population and the role we play in academia to ensure the well-being of older people.
The Social Work program was the first program launched by the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. “Talking about social work is about the history of our university and our Faculty. I would like to renew my recognition and gratitude to the Externadista community for the enthusiasm, enthusiasm and enthusiasm of the officers, teachers and also to our graduates for the pride they take in the Externadista flag.” , said the rector Hernando Parra Nieto, when offering a pleasant blessing in this space.
Colombia‘s Policy on Human Aging and Old Age emphasis on a significant increase in the elderly population. In 2010, the number of people aged 60 or over was 4,473,447, and by 2014 this figure had risen to 5,146,251, representing 11% of the total population. This aging process is progressing rapidly, since it is estimated that in just 20 years, from 2017 to 2037, the percentage of people over 65 years old in Colombia will go from 7% to 15%.
For this reason, the Faculty considers it important to work on public policies related to old age and to establish strategies that improve living conditions, so that older adults are visible and have reasonable care.
“It is clear that the group of older adults has grown and we need a discipline like ours, social work. I invite you to do this as a prelude to start working and thinking about how we can help from the academy, as educators, students and researchers, with this social need and issue that is so hidden and so close to us : that attention, care and issue. empowering the elderly,” said Merly Maritza Díaz, director of the program.
During the conversation, it was considered important that young people think not only of older adults, but of their own lives, so that, in the future, they will be the ones who enjoy that fight.
the experts María Ramírez, consultant representing the elderly population; Diana Cobaleda, expert in providing services with a biopsychosocial approach for older adults; Aura Márquez, member of the interdisciplinary study group on aging at the National University; Gladys Guzmán, author of the comprehensive care model; and María Antonia Román, dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Juan N. Corpas, expressed their concern about working from the academic world and the profession to fundamentally change the purposes, especially for the benefit of older adults. They said that the conditions of old age cannot be tackled without considering people’s life course, since old age is built from childhood, youth and adulthood.
«Public policies need to continue to think about this life course system, and the reduction of the population, which was previously seen as something very distant, is here now and it is here to stay. We, as social workers, must continue to intervene in social realities and problems, and continue to promote issues of communicative participation, frequency and empowerment of groups that allow the transformation of territories. But, especially, from the smallest point of view, to understand how, from our homes, we perceive elderly people, the role we are giving them and their inclusion in different situations,” said Diana Cobaleda.
For the purpose, María Ramírez invited the students to lose their fear and fight for their ideals and, in their work, review the Sustainable Development Goals, which should be included in public policy. He encouraged them to face institutions and protect rights, to generate changes not only for the elderly, but also for the generations to come, so that they will not be afraid to grow old again, but that they will long to they will have built a better future for all.
At the University of Externado de Colombia we are proud to see how this program takes the responsibility of changing care as a fundamental right, determining that this means protecting, accompanying and empowering, as well as providing certainty to communities that their unbreakable rights and your well-being is our commitment.
