Introduction

Abstract

This monograph is an effort to review the elder care literature of the Arab World. It does not claim to be comprehensive but hopefully will stimulate others to find holes in what exists now in order to extend the comprehensiveness. One important issue is that many Arab countries have a mandatory retirement age for government and teaching jobs at age of 62 with the possibility of extension to age 65 with yearly ­agreements, while those professions with low supply and high demand such as ­physicians and college professors have mandatory retirement ages of 69.

Age discrimination appears to be legal and many government and private jobs apparently are open for individuals who are no more than 45 years of age, [which varies] Such policies can result in an increase in poverty among the elderly [who may rely on their adult children] and create long term structural unemployment resulting in the loss of the talents of employees between the age of 42 and 62] in occupations in demand

The Arab World has some of the population highest growth rates in the world with rapid growth of the 60+ population. This growth has led to drops in GDP, to increases in inflation and unemployment that are of concern. The decline of the extended family and the increases in the number of nuclear family units has begun to eat away at the support system that the elderly have had in the past. In addition, in less than a half a millennium, farmers and nomads have found their way into urban areas that, in the main, did not exist in the first part of the 20^th century.

The 22 countries of the Arab World have the advantage of having a unified language and culture that can be used to expedite the development of area wide approaches to a system of elder care. However, the lack of economic & political unification, such as a common market, common currency, open trade and free movement of commodities and labor across boundaries present initial barriers.

Most of the population originally had lower incidence of heart problems due to their Mediterranean diet and lifestyle such as farming and animal husbandry which mandated walking and working. However with modernization and ease of transportation, the western diet with heavy focus on fast food has increased Chronic diseases are extremely widespread in the area with deaths from cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes at all-time highs. The 60+ population has begun to use health care services at rates higher than the general population as a result. Costs are higher to support this group and the expertise and staffing are not available currently to meet the demand.