1 October each year is dedicated to celebrating the International Day of Older Persons to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities of ageing. It is a day for honouring the contributions of older persons to society and highlighting the importance of their dignity, independence and inclusion. This year’s theme advocates for healthy and inclusive ageing.
By 2100, the number of people aged 65 and over is projected to reach 2.4 billion, and the fastest growing segment will be those aged 80 and older. Much of our work at the WHO Kobe Centre aims to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage (UHC) in the context of population ageing to improve the accessibility, affordability and acceptability of health services including long-term care (LTC) for older people.
This past year, we pioneered research to assess the available evidence of unmet health and social care needs among older people (generally above 60 years) in five of WHO’s Regions to ensure they are not left behind in global efforts towards UHC. For the first time, policy-makers can now examine the gaps and opportunities in their regions to identify and address the barriers that lead to unmet needs. This will help improve health information systems that are essential for inclusive health and social care planning, and health outcomes and wellbeing of older people. All the publications are available here.
How health services are financed is important for ensuring coverage, quality, financial protection and health outcomes for older adults. Our research on sustainable financing provides policy-makers with evidence showing that extending access and improving quality of LTC services are sound public investments that can realise economic and societal benefits. A recent series of 11 research briefs on financing LTC in low-and middle-income countries covers topics such as the potential of technologies for promoting healthy ageing, supporting informal caregivers for older people, and how countries promote quality and value in LTC. Together with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, we produced a book on the importance of public investment in LTC to benefit everyone: households, health systems, economics, and societies.
We hope that policymakers everywhere will act on the evidence we have produced with global researchers to promote better health and wellbeing of older persons so that they who deserve our respect and gratitude are not left behind.