Distinguished experts, participants and guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon and welcome to this first Expert Panel meeting.
The global population is ageing and in many countries the number of people aged 60 years and older will soon overtake the number of children – a transition that several countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region are fast approaching.
In 2017 the number of people in the Region aged 60 years and older was estimated to be 186 million against a global estimate of 962 million. By 2050 the number of older people globally is expected to rise to more than 2 billion, which will include around 20% of the Region’s population.
The increased longevity of populations from across the Region is in large part the result of Member State progress in enhancing access to quality health services throughout the life-course – a cause for celebration.
But ageing populations create their own challenges.
All people aspire to be happy and healthy later in life, which is primarily about retaining functional stability to remain independent and autonomous, and capable of selfcare.
WHO defines healthy ageing as “The process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age”.
Older people are considered “functionally able” if they have the capabilities to meet their basic needs, to learn, grow and make decisions, to be mobile, to build and maintain relationships, and to contribute to society – in other words, to be and do what they value.
Achieving this outcome is incumbent on all sectors of society and must be a key development goal – precisely as the WHO-supported “Decade of Healthy Ageing” envisages.
Among other objectives, the Decade seeks to change how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing; ensure communities foster the abilities of older people; deliver integrated care and primary health services responsive to older people; and provide access to long-term care for older people who need it.
Towards these objectives, this Expert Panel will establish and facilitate multi-sectoral dialogue, with the overall aim of ensuring all people can achieve the highest attainable standard of health at all stages of life.
I commend Member States on the progress they have already made, reflected in the Region-wide implementation of our Framework on Healthy Ageing, which was launched in 2018, and is aligned with the Decade of Healthy Ageing priorities.
And I appreciate the tremendous efforts of all countries in the Region to protect older people amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reflected most recently in the prioritization of older people in mass vaccination campaigns, in line with global recommendations.
As we embark on this Expert Panel meeting, I urge participants to address several key areas of work that will accelerate progress on all agenda items.
First, health workforce strengthening. All countries in the Region must be supported to identify health workforce gaps and strengths and develop strategies to meet the health workforce needs of ageing populations.
Health worker education and training requires targeted attention and can be enhanced through the implementation of guidelines on core competencies and the development of context-specific training manuals, such as those being launched today, on WHO’s Integrated Care of Older People (ICOPE) approach.
Second, generating and applying data and evidence. Effectively managing demographic transition is about understanding people’s needs and applying innovative solutions, for which high-quality data are needed.
I urge all countries to make full use of the ICOPE implementation framework, which provides actionable guidance for policy makers and programme managers to concretely assess and measure the capacity of services and systems to deliver integrated care at the community level.
Third, laying the foundations for long-term care systems in every country. Human emotions, family structure, and the strength of health and welfare systems, among other factors, determine how older people are cared for, which is why the provision of long-term care remains a challenge for all societies.
To enable progress in each of these areas and more, in 2019 WHO published a review of long-term care initiatives in the Region, and we are now developing a policy framework for the provision of an integrated continuum of long-term care, towards which this Expert Panel will contribute.
I wish this Panel all success, look forward to its recommendations, and assure you of WHO’s full support in promoting healthy ageing across our Region, to achieve the future we want for present and coming generations.
Thank you.