Social Determinant of Healthy Ageing Among the Urban and Rural Aged in Plateau State

Abstract

Introduction:The social determinant is the conditions in which people are born, live, work and age; shaped by factors such as social norms, social policies and political systems.The rural areas in developing countries are home to nearly 40% of the world's older population.The number of aged living in urban areas in 2050 will increase to over 900 million.Despite a strong association between social factors and health outcomes, there is little research on how these factors impact on the aged.This study aims at improving the understanding of the social determinants of healthy ageing.Methodology: A comparative, cross-sectional study was conducted in Jos North LGA, an urban area and Mangu LGA, a rural area.A total of 728 aged persons (≥ 60 years) were selected by multistage sampling technique in both communities.A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from respondents on the social determinants of healthy ageing and SPSS version 20 software was used for data entry and analysis.Result: In the study, the proportion of healthy ageing aged in rural was 40.1% and 64.0% in urban communities, and 59.6% of the aged live with their spouse in urban, and 56.3% of their rural counterparts reside with their children.Urban pensioners are 20.1%, whereas rural pensioners are 5.6%.The majority (71.7%) of the urban aged are in a social group, compared to the rural aged (29.5%).The elderly who get together and visit friends or relatives often (≥ 4) in a month were higher in the urban areas (76.9% and 75.1%) compared to the rural (52.8% and 48.8%) areas (p < 0.001).Moreover, 61.2% of urban respondents telephone a friend or relative (≥ 4) in the past month, and only 43.1% of those in rural reported doing so; the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion:Frequent social interactions, calls and visits to the aged enhance healthy ageing.Therefore, it should be encouraged and promoted.