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WHO study People are getting older but also sicker
The World Health Organization (WHO) published its first "World Report on Aldering and Health" on Wednesday. According to this, most people today have a life expectancy of over sixty years for the first time. But often a long life also means a significant limitation due to illnesses, often older people even suffer from several illnesses at the same time. Accordingly, according to the WHO, care and nursing must be urgently restructured.
A gifted decade through advances in nutrition, medicine and technology
According to the World Report on Old Age and Health, people are getting older today than ever before. "For the first time in history, most people can expect to live well into the sixties and beyond," said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan in the preface to the report presented on Wednesday.
Life expectancy is increasing worldwide, but good health in old age is not a matter of course. (Image: Robert Kneschke / fotolia.com) According to the experts responsible for this are a better diet, medical developments of insulin solutions and antibiotics and technical advances, by which less physically heavy work must be done. But the "gifted decade" does not only mean positive things, because body and mind must continue to fight against aging. "Unfortunately, 70 does not seem to be the new 60 yet," Dr. John Beard according to a press release from the World Health Organization. "But it could be. And it should, "adds the Director of the Department of Aging and Life Sciences at the WHO.
Due to multimorbidity, 70 is not yet the new 60
However, it is clear that a longer life often involves incurable diseases, massive restrictions and the need for outside support. Just a few weeks ago, the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 showed that the extra years of life are often seen as a burden rather than a gain. In Germany alone, just under a quarter of all 70- to 85-year-olds would suffer from five or more diseases simultaneously (multimorbidity). Therefore, getting older does not automatically mean better health. "Even now, the proportion of over 60-year-old hospital patients makes up 50 percent - although their share of the total population is only 27 percent," says Eugen Brysch, CEO of the German Foundation for Patient Protection to the news agency "dpa".
WHO recommends "integrated care" instead of focusing on individual diseases
As a result, instead of expensive high-tech medicine would be more concomitant and alleviating treatment and care necessary. "But only for cutting-edge medicine increase the expenditure. This aberration must correct the policy, "the expert continues. The WHO also criticizes in its current report, among other things, the inadequate care and care of older people. Instead of focussing on the treatment of individual illnesses in terms of health policy, an "integrated care" should be provided, through which the physical and mental health of humans can be maintained as well and as long as possible. Only then, according to the WHO may be spoken by a "new 60".
"We have to make sure that these extra years can be lived healthy, meaningful and dignified. Achieving this will not only be good for the elderly, it will be good for society as a whole. " Margaret Chan.
Investing in health could also be economically viable
But is restructuring of care affordable? As the WHO states, although the measures require more funding than has hitherto been necessary, this does not have to have a negative impact on the economy. This was the result of a study from the UK for which the total cost of pensions and care for the elderly was equal to the total income generated by the elderly (taxes, consumption, etc.). This resulted in an estimated net contribution of 40 billion pounds (54 billion euros) "which could be expected to grow to 77 billion pounds by 2030," according to the WHO report. This could therefore be an indication that an increase in spending on the health of the elderly could also be worthwhile from an economic point of view. (No)