In Africa, a continent full of children, the fates of young and old are intertwined

MAGOGO, Uganda (AP) — A boy scales the trunk of a jackfruit tree, pawing at his prize, yellow and swollen. Down the road, another child runs beside a bicycle tire with a stick, a phalanx of kids chasing along. Sunlight shines on the young all through this country’s villages and cities, strapped to the backs of their mothers, singing in schoolyards, sailing across soccer fields.

Meanwhile, in the shadows, in crumbling houses and dim mud huts, a new population of the old blossoms.

Across Africa, young and old are divided in their visibility as resources gush toward children and many elderly are left behind. But the fates of old and young are intertwined.

“Both of them are suffering,” says Dr. Emmanuel Mugerwa, who planned to become a pediatrician before switching to geriatric care at a cl