Advancing Age in Africa, the Urgent Need for Institutional Geriatric Care in a Low Resource Setting: A Case Report
1 Department of Medical Imaging, School of Medical Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
2 Department of Radiology, Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana.
3 Department of Radiology, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, 1 Guggisberg Avenue, Accra, Ghana.
4 Department of Chemical Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
5 Department of Family Medicine, Geriatric Unit, University of Cape Coast Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana.
6 African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Summerhill Estates, East Legon Hills, Santoe, Accra, Ghana.
Case Study
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2021, 12(02), 416–420
Publication history:
Received on 13 October 2021; revised on 17 November 2021; accepted on 19 November 2021
Abstract:
Background: The demand for geriatric care has been on the increase throughout the world, especially in the developing, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), due to increasing life expectancy, improvement in technology in healthcare industry coupled with increasing numbers of healthcare personnel. Nonetheless, these increases in the resources to the healthcare industry are still woefully inadequate in the developing and LMICs, compared to the high demand for such services, thereby exposing the drastic challenges and gaps in geriatric services in these countries.
Case Presentation: A 74-year-old woman apparently well, who was relocated from the rural area by her biological daughter, with the intention of giving her better care in a comfortable city environment. She was initially appreciative of the relocation. However, the situation went sour when her daughter and son-in-law resumed work after their annual leave period. They started locking her up in a well-furnished mansion with everything she may need until they returned from work. Consistently for eight working days, she was kept under lock and key because they did not want her to roam around the community, they thought was not familiar to her with the intention of keeping her safe. Everything was fine until they returned from work one day to find that she had soiled the house with her excrement, apparently as a protest against her consistent lock-up. This necessitated their visit to the hospital. A diagnosis of social isolation was made after clinical and mental state examination and appropriate interventions were instituted. The patient consequently became fine in the new environment.
Conclusion: This case has been presented in order to emphasize the need to improve the systems for geriatric care which is of public health concern, especially as the life expectancy of the developing, low- and middle-income countries keep improving.
Keywords:
Advancing age; Geriatric care; Ghana; Low-resource setting; Africa
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