Elderly, Health & Socio-demographic Profile in Iraq, the Context of Conflict, Violence and Social Exclusion, Systematic Review

Background: Elderly segment of population in Iraq are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with daily life as the country’s security conditions worsen. Continuing violence and the consequent mass displacement has had a debilitating effect on the health and psychological conditions of the elderly. It is mainly the elderly who find it most difficult to cope with displacement. As a result, they have developed illnesses which, with a lack of medical assistance, can lead to death. Objectives: To study elderly health profile in Iraq in the context of violence, conflict and social exclusions. To assess response of health care system health care services (to elderly needs, problems and sickness). Methodology: systematic review research design was carried out by using multiple engines search utilizing specific key words relevant to (elderly health profile, Iraq, conflicts) and so on. Direct interview with experts, as well as official reports of Governmental and NGOs. Multiple Electronic databases were carefully investigated, through pre-defined search strategy. Additional references from the bibliographies of retrieved articles and experts in the area were approached. Results: Elderly related demographic data showed that Age group (55-64 years) equal to 4.2% of total Iraqi population (male 652,973/female 713,662), Age group 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 487,841/female 561,797) (2014 est.) 2.8 percent of Iraq's population were 65 and older, the most recent year for which figures were available. Population projections reveal that the total number of women 55 years and above in Iraq is estimated to about one million women; which comprise around 6.8 percent of total women in Iraq, and about 53 percent of total elderly population aged 55 years and above. The results of I-WISH survey revealed that 43.3 percent of these women are widowed, 3.3 percent are unmarried and 23.1 percent are heads of households. The results also showed that elderly women live in households with an average of 6.5 members. Amongst 13.4 percent live in households with average household size totaled to less than 3 persons. About 76.2 percent of these women live in urban areas and 23.8 percent live in rural areas. About 72.4 percent of elderly women are illiterate and only 5.4 percent of them have a diploma degree or higher.