International Day of Care and Support
Most of us have seen the importance of care and support for someone who needs health attention. Care or support are needed from childhood to adulthood. During childhood, the care and support that we get from our parents or family members are different when it comes to care during adulthood. For elderly people, mostly carers are paid, but many times we have seen unpaid carers too, mostly in families.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILIO), the global care workforce comprises 249 million women and 132 million men. By 2030, the number of care recipients is predicted to reach 2.3 billion, driven by an additional 0.1 billion older persons and an additional 0.1 billion children aged 6 to 14 years. Women perform 76.2 percent of the total amount of unpaid care work, 3.2 times more time than men.
The recent trends of growing populations, ageing societies, changing families, women’s secondary status in labour markets, and shortcomings in social policies demand urgent action on the organisation of care work from governments, employers, trade unions, and individual citizens.
We should know that care work consists of two overlapping activities: direct, personal, and relational care activities, such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner; and indirect care activities, such as cooking and cleaning. Unpaid care work is care work provided without a monetary reward by unpaid carers. Unpaid care is considered work and is thus a crucial dimension of the world of work. Paid care work is performed for pay or profit by care workers.
The care economy is growing as the demand for childcare and care for the elderly is increasing in all regions. It will thus create a great number of jobs in the coming years. With the global demand for domestic workers likely to grow, the ILO is taking action to ensure they have access to decent work. ILO’s report Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work takes a comprehensive look at unpaid and paid care work and its relationship with the changing world of work.
Mindful of the need to invest in the care economy and to create robust, resilient, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, and age-sensitive care and support systems with full respect for human rights with a view to recognising, reducing, valuing, and redistributing unpaid care and domestic work and support, the United Nations General Assembly decided to proclaim October 29 as the International Day of Care and Support.
The UN General Assembly invited stakeholders to observe the International Day of Care and Support on an annual basis in an appropriate manner in order to raise awareness of the importance of care and support and its key contribution to the achievement of gender equality and the sustainability of our societies and economies, as well as of the need to invest in a resilient and inclusive care economy, including the development of strong and resilient care and support systems.
Care and support have become one of India’s largest sectors, both in terms of revenue and employment. We know that healthcare comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance, and medical equipment. The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its strengthening coverage and services and increasing expenditure by both public and private players. There has been a significant increase in home care, like institutional care, which brings more opportunity for trained people in caregiving.
There are countries where the elderly population has increased, and they demand more carers, even from outside their countries. The fact says that there is a shortfall of trained human power in this field, and if not adequately addressed, current deficits in care service provision and its quality will create a severe and unsustainable global care crisis and increase gender inequalities at work. Together, the care economy can be enhanced, and more opportunities are available in our region. If planned well, many individuals from our region may be associated with the care economy and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goals with decent work and jobs.