Official figures show that, last year, almost a fifth of the population was aged 65 or over. Dealing with an ageing population requires foresight, sound planning and resolute robust action if the formidable challenges ahead are to be successfully met.

It is essential to ensure that the number of elderly persons falling below the poverty line does not keep rising. However, in addressing the many difficulties that keep surfacing as more people get older requires a holistic approach that must also cover social, health and community issues.

The State already provides a number of services to help the elderly handle life better. Indeed, Malta has made some very positive contributions in terms of ageing, even on the international plane.

In the late 1960s, Malta had moved a motion in the United Nations calling for population ageing to be discussed at the General Assembly. Later, in the early 1980s, it played a key role in the United Nations World Assembly on Ageing. In 1987, Malta became one of the first countries to elevate the issue of care for the elderly to cabinet level.

Then, in 2013, to stress the need to adopt a holistic approach when caring for senior citizens, the idea of active ageing started being pushed.

The department of gerontology and dementia studies at the University of Malta, the University of the Third Age, the International Institute on Ageing and the Maltese Association for Gerontology and Geriatrics further stress this country’s commitment to deal with the problem of ageing.

Such commitment was also evident in the draft legislation moved in parliament the other day, aimed at setting up an Older Persons Authority. The main role of the proposed set-up would be to draw up and enforce standards for residential and other services offered to the elderly by the government and private entities.

Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg made a valid point when he said the proposed regulator should also have an advocacy role and be empowered to comment on the standard of living of the elderly.

The debate in parliament should serve as another opportunity to raise awareness on the difficulties of ageing. It should discuss what needs to be done in terms of laws, regulations and policies that promote and uphold present and future elderly persons’ dignity and quality of life in all aspects.

The proposed set-up should work closely with all stakeholders – notably NGOs working among senior citizens – to serve as a loud and powerful voice for the elderly rather than just function as a licence-issuing authority or watchdog.

The problems facing the elderly are indeed complex. Points raised by a social worker during a seminar last month demonstrated the challenges that lie ahead. Among them is abuse – causing emotional turmoil and damaging one’s self-esteem.

So much more can be done to ensure that the thousands residing in homes for the elderly are not simply waiting for their time to run out. The budgetary subsidy increase for live-in carers is, of course, a positive step, but can the service be improved?

In order to be better equipped to address such issues one must, of course, go to the core of the matter.

Christian Borg Xuereb, head of the department of gerontology and dementia studies at the university’s faculty for social well-being, rightly highlighted the need to advance education in geriatrics and gerontology.

It is time, he argued in an article this summer, “to embrace the ageing revolution and become part of a movement that would shape the future of care for older adults”.

We owe it to those from whom we have inherited so much good.