Brasília, 4/29/2004 (Agência Brasil) - In an effort to combat violence against the elderly, the government is creating the National Plan for Dealing With Violence Against the Elderly. The plan will be run jointly by the Special Secretariat of Human Rights, the national health institute (Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária) (Anvisa) and the Ministries of Health, Justice, Cities, Social Development and Hunger Combat, and Sports.

Plan action runs from infrastructure (making it easier for older people to move around) to improving the lifestyles of the elderly who are in prison, to making the public aware of the problem.

The plan will also institute oversight of homes for the elderly.

The announcement of the plan comes as a National Seminar on the issue begins today in Brasilia (Seminário Nacional de Enfrentamento à Violência contra a Pessoa Idosa) which will analyze the situation of people over 60 years of age and how they live in Brazil.

There are around 15 million people in Brazil over the age of 60, about 9% of the population. According to the UN, today there are 600 million elderly people in the world and that number is expected to jump to around 2 billion by the year 2050.

Since January 1, Brazil has a Statute for the Elderly which is in effect. It prescribes stiff penalties for mistreating senior citizens.

Translator: Allen Bennett