On the occasion of the International Day of Older persons, UNFPA Iran Country Office participated in a ceremony organized by the State Welfare Organization (SWO) and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Welfare (MCLW) on 1st October, 2018.
The ceremony aimed to celebrate the Champions of the Rights of Older persons and held in the conference Hall of the MCLW by participation of older persons and dignitaries who support the programmes for this group.
A press conference was organized by participation of H.E. Dr. Anoushirvan Bandpay, Acting Minister of MCLW, Dr. Mohsen Salmannejad, Head of SWO, Dr. Leila Joudane, UNFPA Iran Representative, a number of high officials of the MCLW and a number of local news agencies.
H.E. Mr. Bandpay, briefed the participants about the plans and programmes lead by the Ministry in collaboration with a number of government organizations.
He announced that the Document for Elderly is prepared, approved and circulated to the relevant government organizations and it is expected that NGOs such as Bonyad Farzanegan support the government to improve the services for elderly.
Dr. Leila Joudane, UNFPA Iran Representative, shared with the participants a summary of the status of the elderly globally and in Iran. She mentioned that the growing number of the older persons, all over the world, including Iran, need to implement a number of activities such as comprehensive survey, development of policies and programmes, establishment of networks and technical groups to meet the needs of the elderly.
The meeting continued with the questions by the journalists which were responded by H.E. Dr. Bandpay and Dr. Joudane and continued by their individual interviews with the local TV channels.
At the closing ceremony a number of Certificate of Honor were presented to the Champions of Older persons.
