The European Commission presented a green paper to launch a broad policy debate on the challenges and opportunities of Europe’s ageing society. It sets out the impact of this pronounced demographic trend across our economy and society and invites the public to express their views on how to respond to this in a public consultation, which will run for 12 weeks.
Author: Iosif Klironomos
At least 14% of all people aged 60 years and over – more than 142 million people – are currently unable to meet all their basic daily needs according to the Baseline report for the Decade of Healthy Ageing, released by the World Health Organization on 17 December 2020.
The Baseline report brings together data available for measuring healthy ageing, defined by WHO as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age.” Optimizing “functional ability” is the goal of the Decade of Healthy Ageing, which begins in 2021 and addresses five interrelated abilities that all older people should enjoy: the ability to meet basic needs; to continue to learn and make decisions; to be mobile; to build and maintain relationships; and to contribute to society. The Baseline report presents the experience of countries which have been successful in starting healthy ageing initiatives in each of these areas, such as Ireland, Mexico and Viet Nam. It also stresses that older adults must be engaged throughout.
The report is intended for people working in government, academia, civil society and the private sector who make decisions that impact people’s ability to live well in older age.
The report also discusses what is needed to promote collaboration and better measure progress towards healthy ageing.
According to the report, only one-quarter of countries around the world are compiling comparable data which can be used to monitor global progress towards healthy ageing. Some countries that are collecting and using data to improve policies and programmes for and with older persons are presented in the report. These countries are Chile, China, Finland, Ghana, India, Qatar, Singapore and Thailand.
A number of indicators to be reported on by countries as a demonstration of commitment towards healthy ageing were agreed on by WHO Member States as part of the Global Strategy on Ageing and Health 2016-2020 and endorsed in 2020 within the context of the Decade for Healthy Ageing 2021-2030. Examples are the establishment of a national committee or forum on ageing; comprehensive assessments of the health and social care needs of older people; and a policy on strengthening long-term care. The Baseline report notes improvements in all 10 indicators between 2018 (when initial data collection took place) and 2020. The most progress had been made in establishing national policies relating to healthy ageing, and the least, in introducing and enforcing legislation against age-based discrimination.
The context for the Report is the commitment of WHO and the wider UN system to implement efforts to improve the lives of older people through the newly designated UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, 2021-2030. WHO will compile progress reports in 2023, 2026 and 2029.
The EIP on AHA has launched the December edition of the newsletter with all of the news and information that is relevant to the active and healthy ageing community.
Don’t miss out on:
- Information about funding calls;
- Opportunities to raise your organisation’s profile and increase your visibility amongst the EIP on AHA community;
- Details about all of the major European events related to innovation, ageing, health and ICT;
- Highlights on interesting initiatives from around Europe and beyond.
Proposed by Campania Reference Site on behalf of the RSCN, the Workshop will bring together Reference Sites in different EU Countries, such as Italy, Portugal, Spain and AGs, to facilitate the development of both a Regional and National Model, based on best practice approaches for achieving regional and national priorities. All 4 quadrants of the Quadruple Helix Model will be represented.
Objective: This Thematic Workshop is aimed at sharing the Italian networking experience as an enabler to collectively build regional ecosystems for health innovation that can support the delivery of national health and care priorities and those of the EU for the Digital Transformation of Health and Care.
Approach: The Event will allow Participants to share, discuss, and evaluate the processes adopted by each RS, including the role and involvement of the Quadruple Helix stakeholders in adopting agreed conclusions from the Action Groups. Consideration will be given to methodologies used to overcome barriers to change, including organisational, financial, digital, policy, and cultural readiness, etc.
Expected results: The outcome from the Thematic Workshop would be the development of an agreed Model for implementing actions recommended by Action Groups, both regionally and nationally, to achieve health and care priorities at scale. In addition, a protocol for the engagement of the Reference Site Quadruple Helix stakeholders would be agreed.
Categories
This section will soon be updated with available funding opportunities.
Event date: 12/11/2020
How technology is supporting active and healthy aging (AHA)? How research and innovation tackle aging and active and independent living? Extremadura region launched a workshop on new initiatives developed in the frame of research and innovation projects. Workshop will cover the experiences and practices in the MOVECARE (a robotic solution) and AQUATIME project (IoT solution), where new digital solutions for AHA were developed and piloted in real environment with users. Under this COVID-19 pandemic, new approaches for independent living are required and governments need to address the long-term sustainability of social care. New model for Social Care must look beyond the actual residential care approach, fostering new models for independent living in seniors. This workshop will tackle this debate.
Event date: 17/11/2020
There is a gap in the application of technology in Europe. After the coronavirus crisis, this gap has become even more evident. While rural areas and the ageing population were already priority areas of attention, these months have highlighted the weak areas that currently exist the system, leaving many groups in vulnerable situations.
Telemedicine is based on the concept of improving and facilitating personalized patient care, as well as improving the patient’s quality of life. However… is it enough to respond to the current challenge?
In this workshop, experts will explain the progress and efforts of different European and national projects to answer to these challenges. In addition, the need to promote exchange in collaborative networks will be emphasised.
Event date: 13/11/2020
What is preventing the further upscaling of digital health solutions for the elderly? Why is it not possible for all of our grandmothers and grandfathers to have their health monitored at home, giving them more freedom, and at the same time, freeing up the capacity of our health workers?
Countries worldwide are facing the same demographic changes. Globally, the number of older persons is growing faster than the number of people in all younger age groups. This in turn puts a strain on health care systems and has created a greater need for smart, digital health solutions that can reduce the related costs attached to this development. The digital tech companies have since long taken up this challenge, creating a large variety of products and services that can help hospitals, municipalities and health workers to reduce costs, time spent on their computer, and provide them with the tools they need to work more efficiently.
However, many of these smart health services and products could be upscaled further. The aim of this workshop is to shed light on and identify the “bottlenecks” and showcase solutions for the further upscaling and implementation of digital health solutions for the elderly. In order to secure insights from both the private and public sector, academia, and more importantly the elderly themselves, we have included a wide variety of speakers and panelists.
The EIP on AHA has launched the October edition of the newsletter with all of the news and information that is relevant to the active and healthy ageing community.
Don’t miss out on:
- Information about funding calls;
- Opportunities to raise your organisation’s profile and increase your visibility amongst the EIP on AHA community;
- Details about all of the major European events related to innovation, ageing, health and ICT;
- Highlights on interesting initiatives from around Europe and beyond.