Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research; Professor V S Natarajan, Padma Shree awardee and practicing geriatrician; Dr Ashish Goel, President, Indian Academy of Geriatrics; Dr Meenakshi Sharda, President, Indian Academy of Geriatrics, Kota Chapter; Dr Prasun Chatterjee, Chairperson, GERICON 2023; Dr Avinash Chakravarty, Co-Chairperson, GERICON 2023; Partners, colleagues and friends,
Good evening and my utmost gratitude to the Department of Geriatric Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, for inviting me to address this august annual event.
My thanks also to the Department, led by Dr Naveet Wig, for its ongoing efforts to promote healthy ageing across the WHO South-East Asia Region, as the only official WHO collaborating centre working in this area.
Your partnership is critically important, and we greatly appreciate your work to adapt and integrate the WHO Framework for the Integrated Care of Older People approach, not only at this apex institution, but across the Region. I extend my highest commendations.
Today, just 1 in 10 people in the Region are above 60 years of age, which is below the global average of nearly 13%.
However, by 2030, the proportion of older people in the Region is expected to rise to almost 14%, and by 2050 to 22% – more than 1 in 5 people.
By 2050, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh will be home to approximately 420 million of the 480 million older people in the Region, and 420 million of the 2.1 billion older people globally.
This is testament to the tremendous advances that we in the Region have made to improve life expectancy, which in the past decade alone has increased by eight years, as well as our efforts to empower women and reduce fertility rates, which between 2010 and the present have reduced from 2.3 children per woman to 1.9.
And while it is true that in the decades ahead, managing this demographic transition will be a formidable challenge, let us agree: It is also an opportunity.
This is because older people who experience good health and well-being can participate directly in the formal and informal workforce;
Can contribute through taxes, consumption, cash and property transfers, and volunteer work;
And can bequeath valuable social and cultural wisdom, knowledge and experience to their families, younger generations and communities – assets that are truly priceless.
Importantly, the cost of caring for older people need not be high. In fact, for the most part, it can be delivered at the primary health care (PHC) level – where most people’s health needs can be met throughout the life-course, and where together, WHO and its Member States in the Region are prioritizing their efforts, in alignment with the Region’s Framework for Integrated Care of Older People, our Flagship Priority on achieving universal health coverage, our Regional Strategy for PHC, and the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021–2030.
In the months and years ahead, the Region has several priorities:
First, strengthening health workforce capacity, with a focus on identifying health workforce gaps and strengths, and increasing health workforce education and training, especially to meet the needs of older people.
Second, generating age-disaggregated data and evidence to understand older peoples’ needs, and to assess the capacity of services and systems to deliver integrated care at the community level.
Third, strengthening PHC specifically, in alignment with the Region’s Strategy on PHC, and in recognition of the fact that quality PHC services are highly effective in enhancing the physical and mental capacity and well-being of people of all ages.
And fourth, increasing access to quality long-term care, including palliative care, to maintain quality of life and functional ability, and to ensure that all older people live with dignity.
To complement action in each of these areas, we are also committed to leveraging the full power of current and emerging digital innovations – the focus of this conference, which is particularly timely.
Through sheer necessity, the COVID-19 crisis has catalysed an array of innovations that can promote healthy ageing and facilitate geriatric care, not least telemedicine, m-health and e-health technologies.
Devices and apps can improve preventive and promotive health.
AI and big data can help analyse, diagnose and predict health issues.
And digital communication technologies can improve access to health care, and also promote social connectedness and reduce loneliness and isolation, which contribute to an array of mental health conditions.
However, to be effective, such innovations and technologies must be accessible to all older people – the message I want to focus on today, and which is at the heart of our WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020–2025.
Across the Region, older people face a range of barriers in accessing digital innovations and technologies.
Some, which people of all demographics face, such as those related to geography, connectivity and affordability.
But also others, which are specific to older populations, such as limited digital literacy, concerns related to data privacy and security, and inappropriate design.
To overcome these and other barriers, it is essential that policy makers make special provisions in national digital health policy and planning to meet the needs of older people, ensuring affordable pricing, access to digital literacy courses, consumer protection, privacy and security, and age-friendly design.
And they should also develop priority-driven investment plans for digital health transformation, while at the same time sharing knowledge and best practices, for accelerated Regional and global success.
I take this opportunity to commend India’s progress on healthy ageing and geriatric care generally, facilitated by its National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly, launched in 2010, and more recently by the operationalization of more than 150 000 Health and Wellness Centres, which enable a continuum of elderly care from the primary level up.
And I also welcome India’s leadership on digital health specifically, reflected in its hosting of a global conference on UHC and digital health in March of this year, as well as the joint India and WHO launch of the Global Initiative on Digital Health in September, as part of India’s G-20 Presidency.
Together, let us leverage these and other initiatives to add years to life and life to years, promoting and supporting healthy ageing not just in India but across the South-East Asia Region and world.
I once again thank the Department of Geriatric Care and All India Institute of Medical Sciences and wish you a productive and engaging GERICON 2023.
Thank you.