7 May, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Health groups for the elderly and disabled are planned to be established in all districts of the Vitebsk region, the Committee for Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. Currently, the region's management system includes 22 sports clubs and five health and fitness centres, which have established 11 "Health" groups for the elderly. Over 100 people attend them on a regular basis. In the region's healthcare institutions, 34 geriatric offices are operating, and 37 "Third Age" health schools are functioning, having trained almost 7,000 people. To provide palliative medical care, the region has 35 beds – at the district hospital in the settlement of Oktyabrsky, Vitebsk district, and the Orsha City Hospital. This type of medical care will be further developed this year. The implementation of the regional comprehensive programme for the development of social services for 2011-2015, aimed primarily at addressing the problems of veterans, disabled individuals, lonely elderly people, and the elderly, contributes to solving the issues faced by older people. Currently, 246.5 thousand elderly citizens reside in the region, accounting for about 21% of the population. An устойчивой trend in recent years has been population ageing. According to forecast estimates, by 2015, the proportion of elderly citizens in the population structure will reach 24%. According to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Healthcare Department, in 2011, against the backdrop of an overall 3.7% decrease in mortality in the region, mortality in the older working-age population decreased by 4.3%. -0-

BELTA