How Societies Can Support Older Adults — And Why They Need To Start Now
Society can support its older people while gaining social and economic benefits.
On June 3, 2022, the US National Academies (USNA) announced the publication of the Global Roadmap of Health Longevity. This report describes the unique challenges older adults face in society and outlines methods of addressing these challenges.
The report also stresses the importance of doing so as the population of older adults increase and birth rates decline. By 2050, the percentage of people over age 65 will be around double that of 2019, whereas the percentage of people between ages 15 and 65 will increase by only around 20 percent during that time period.
The ultimate goal, according to the the National Academies, is to improve health longevity by 2050 in four major domains: the longevity dividend (eg. work and education, as explained below), health systems, social infrastructure, and physical environment.
The murky relationship between society and ageing
The report defines health longevity as a state in which “years of good health approach the biological life span, with physical, cognitive, and social functioning that enables well-being.” Some barriers to health longevity include chronic health conditions, ageism and stereotypes, lack of physical activity, and pollution. This leads to a current situation where the final years of life may be associated with increasing disability.
Often, when society discusses older adults, there is the idea of ‘coping’ or ‘dealing’ with them, but the report from the US National Academies envisions a situation where society can support its older people (by removing barriers, creating more opportunities, and providing additional support) while gaining social and economic benefits.
The report emphasizes that it is not just the health system that is responsible for health longevity. A person’s health actually depends on multiple factors and systems and how they interact as shown in the following diagram from the USNA report.
FIGURE S-3 The virtuous cycle of healthy longevity (Figure and caption from: Global Roadmap of Health Longevity)
The longevity dividend — how helping others helps us
As life spans increase, both older adults and younger members of society benefit if people spend most of their years in good health. The USNA report goes on to say that providing older adults with opportunities to work, volunteer, and learn new skills lets them engage with society while simultaneously benefiting other people. Providing incentives for working or job retraining is likely to be more effective than using coercive measures such as increasing pension eligibility age, which can harm certain groups of people, such as those with health conditions who are unable to work. In situations where people aren’t able, or no longer want, to work, part-time work might be a fulfilling, and societally useful option.
Volunteering within a community is another area where older people can contribute while also gaining meaning, purpose, and satisfaction in life.
Another target area for the report is providing older adults with lifelong education and oppurtunities to retrain. By practicing new skills and gaining more knowledge, older adults can work and volunteer for more years — if they wish — as lack of skills, knowledge, and training will cease to be barriers.
Fixing our health systems; fixing health care
Ageing increases the risk of chronic health conditions, which in turn affects a person’s ability to recover from infection and other threats as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when mortality rates were higher in older adults .
The USNA report also highlighted the need for prevention, and promoting healthier lifestyles by creating incentives for people to engage in health and wellness activities and equipping citizens with tools they need to manage their own health.
Even with a focus on health longevity, some older adults will still need nursing homes and long-term-care homes, but older people who can no longer live independently should still have choice, autonomy, and dignity when it comes to the care they receive, and instances of neglect and abuse should be minimized. Ideally, older people should be able to age in place in their own homes rather than having to move into some form of assisted living facility. Older people often need the support of caregivers (such as spouses or children) and the report recommends that the government should provide these caregivers with support options, such as technology that lets caregivers moniter a person while respecting their privacy.
Promoting social relationships and providing financial security
Many countries have recognized the important role social factors and environment play in a person’s health. This is why its troubling to see that around 20–34 percent of older adults in China, Europe, Latin America, and the United States identify as lonely. Loneliness is not only a threat to well-being and quality of life, but it can also have serious impacts on health, comparable to those of smoking and obseity. Thus the report suggests that programs that focus on reducing loneliness and strengthening older adults’ connections within communities may also be helpful.
Another target area identified by the report is financial security in older adults Older adults can benefit from oppurtunities to save, invest, and learn about finance.
Optimizing physical environments
A person’s physical environment can have significant impact on their health. Safe and accessible housing can let older adults live independently while public transportation and public spaces can impact proximity to resources and community relationships.
When designing houses, public spaces, and public transportation options, officials should keep in mind accessibility and the unique challenges older adults may face. At the neighbourhood level, this can include proximitiy to food, and at the housing level, this includes making independent living easy for older adults.
The USNA report notes that a person’s health depends on multiple factors, including genetics, environment, and income status. This complex relationship means that improving health longevity in older adults requires a multifactorial approach that looks at the whole person and the context he or she lives in.
In summary, the USNA report:
Advocates for a more human approach to dealing with older people
Emphasizes prevention as being better than cure
Recommends a holistic and multi-factorial approach where societal and caregiver needs are considered along with the needs of the older person
Disclaimer: This article is an information resource only and is not to be used for diagnostic or treatment purposes. You should always consult your health care provider before making any health care decisions.
