1 October 2024, Cairo, Egypt – This 12 months’s Worldwide Day of Older Individuals, celebrated yearly on 1 October, adopts the theme Ageing with Dignity: The Significance of Strengthening Care and Assist Techniques for Older Individuals Worldwide.
Individuals are dwelling longer, and whereas the trajectory of every particular person’s life is totally different, older individuals are extra prone to expertise complicated, power circumstances, the administration of which requires shut coordination throughout totally different ranges of well being and social care, than youthful individuals.
Whereas we’re, on common, dwelling longer, we aren’t essentially dwelling more healthy. Good high quality, reasonably priced and equitable care that helps us profit from our longer lives – regardless of who we’re, the place we stay or how previous – is urgently wanted.
Care and help methods that meet the wants of older individuals must be enhanced. A current WHO research discovered that individuals aged 60 years and above expertise unmet well being care wants no matter whether or not they stay in low-, middle- or high-income international locations.
Older individuals may additionally want preventative and promotive care that maintains good well being. Such care can embody entry to the data, abilities and instruments we have to look after ourselves.
Based on the UN Decade of Wholesome Ageing progress report (2023), only one in 4 reporting international locations have the sources to implement built-in care that’s conscious of older individuals’s wants, only one in 3 can implement long-term care, simply 16% of low-income international locations, which rely closely on casual care, have coaching programmes for casual caregivers, and fewer than 60% of reporting international locations included long-term care of their nationwide competency framework for geriatric care staff.
The UN Decade of Wholesome Ageing (2021–2030) requires a change of the methods we offer care and a shift in the direction of delivering person-centred, built-in care conscious of older individuals’s wants.
WHO is contributing to the implementation of the UN Decade of Wholesome Ageing by supporting international locations rework their well being and care methods and combine long run care of older individuals in common well being protection.
WHO recommends that international locations present an built-in continuum of care which:
is person-centred, applicable, reasonably priced, and accessible, focusing above all on supporting each particular person to satisfy their wants and preferences and fulfil their targets;
integrates well being companies throughout disciplines and specialities to ensure each particular person receives the total vary of well being care they want with out getting misplaced between separate companies and methods;
integrates well being and social care, making certain each particular person has seamless entry to each short- and long-term care throughout scientific settings, care services, their native communities and their properties;
cares for the carers, valuing their contributions, offering satisfactory help, and making certain fairness – together with for casual caregivers akin to household carers, who’re disproportionately ladies; and
holds nationwide governments accountable for offering care, in shut collaboration with native governments, civil society organisations or the non-public sector, as applicable.
Specializing in an built-in continuum of care will allow international locations to raised meet the wants of individuals of all ages, making it a superb funding for everybody, in every single place, and a vital part of common well being protection.
