Ageing
Living healthier and longer lives is increasingly within our reach and is a fundamental human right. The environments in which we live are the outcomes of policies and decisions that directly impact our health, our longevity, and our relationships to ourselves, our families and our communities. While our environments can be responsive to our needs and help us learn, grow and age with dignity, they can also impede our actions and activities, increase potential risks for health problems and injuries, and reduce our access to services.
Each year in the WHO European Region, there are more people celebrating their 80th birthday than being born. As we live longer and the number of older adults increases, we have an opportunity to harness life experiences and co-create environments that respond to and celebrate ageing. We must adapt the way our societies are structured across all sectors, including health and social care, transportation, housing, and urban planning. Making our environments more age-friendly is essential.
To achieve age-friendly environments, we need to change our values and the way we look at ageing – from seeing older people as societal burdens to recognizing them as a precious and irreplaceable part of families and communities. In doing so, we can ensure that no one is left behind.
With the rapid ageing of most European populations, policies for healthy ageing have become key to preventing a large part of the burden of disease, disability and loss of well-being in the Region. Older people’s health and well-being can be increased decisively if policies across a wide range of sectors take account of their specific needs, concerns and barriers to access. Such policies can also be instrumental in closing the gaps in health and well-being between countries and between socioeconomic groups.
WHO/Europe promotes healthy ageing in the Region through a range of strategies and action plans to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases, strengthen health systems and improve health care services. As part of this effort, WHO/Europe seeks and promotes policies and interventions that have the greatest potential to achieve gains, for example, in the following key areas:
- prevention of falls;
- promotion of physical activity;
- vaccination of older people and prevention of infectious disease in health-care settings;
- public support for informal care giving with a focus on home care, including self-care;
- building capacity in geriatrics and gerontology among the health and social care workforce;
- prevention of social isolation and social exclusion;
- strategies to ensure the quality of care for older people, with a focus on dementia care and palliative care for long-term patients;
- prevention of elder maltreatment.