Healthcare Study Poor care for 300 million older people

Poor health care for 300 million seniors
A large proportion of senior citizens worldwide are not receiving adequate medical care. Over 300 million people over the age of 65 do not have access to adequate long-term care and care. This emerges from a new study by the International Labor Organization ILO.

Germany and Japan as positive exceptions
Health care for most of the over-65s is deficient worldwide. A study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) recently presented in Geneva states that more than 300 million people in this age group do not have access to adequate long-term care (LTC) care. The author of the study, Xenia Scheil-Adlung, complained, according to a news agency AFP, that less than one percent of global economic output was spent on this area.

Many older people live in abject poverty. Picture: pressmaster - fotolia

Although Germany and Japan are cited as positive exceptions, only 5.6 percent of the world's population can enjoy comprehensive long-term care and care in these two nations. In contrast, this is not the case, for example, in Africa with more than 90 percent of people over the age of 65 years.

In the future, more problems threaten here too
It should be mentioned, however, that experts have been warning for a long time that, due to the aging society, there are also problems in supplying elderly people in Germany. For example, the German Foundation for Patient Protection recently warned that the hospital structural reform was not demographic-safe and criticized a lack of regard for senior citizens. In the capital, people want to face the challenges of demographic change with a new concept. The Berlin Senate wants to better serve the elderly and announced a few weeks ago to better network with "80plus" auxiliary systems.

Written formulated discrimination of seniors
The International Labor Organization criticized "discrimination and negative attitudes towards the elderly" in their study. The disadvantage is sometimes even regulated in writing, for example, in determining the conditions for the conclusion of insurance contracts or in the denial of certain benefits. The ILO argued that care for the elderly should not be seen as too expensive, but rather to invest in new jobs. Worldwide, 13.6 million additional nurses would be needed in this area. The ILO also said that care was mostly left to female relatives and that should change. The health of DAK should look like this. Only a few days ago, the health insurance company reported on their current care report, which came to the conclusion, among other things, that care is mostly a woman's and psychologically a heavy burden. (Ad)