Global Health Leaders Call for Greater Investment into Healthy Ageing
A Coalition bringing together 15 organisations and 12 individuals, including the European Public Health Association, the International Pharmaceutical Federation, and Professor Sir Michael Marmot, University College London has been launched calling for governments to reorient their healthcare systems towards prevention.
There are, the coalition states significant economic opportunities that come with an ageing society, but only if countries adapt. Investing in prevention, to ensure people live not only longer but healthier lives, is they say crucial., and National, regional and global representatives, have come together under a shared vision to improve population health by urging governments to spend at least 6% of their health budgets on preventative care.
The Coalition is part of ILC’s global initiatives to influence world leaders and health and finance ministers to prioritise healthy ageing and prevention. ILC plans to engage leading policymakers at the forthcoming World Health Assembly, where it will launch its Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index, and at the G20 Summit. The Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index is a global Index which ranks 121 countries on six healthy ageing and prevention metrics. It aims to hold governments to account on healthy ageing and investing in prevention.
Led by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC), the UK’s specialist think tank on the impact of longevity on society, the Coalition will work together to:
1. Elevate the importance of prevention among global health actors, respond to key policy developments and calls to action, and hold governments to account.
2. Influence change at the global and national level to ensure prevention is at the heart of global health policy.
3. Drive forward and communicate key messages from the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index and demonstrate the health and economic case for investing in prevention.
Arunima Himawan from the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC), who organised the Coalition, argues:
“Greater investment in preventative health is something many global health advocates, no matter their specific area of focus, can get behind. We need to show governments that we are united on this issue and that we need them to urgently move from commitment to action on prevention.
Through our collective voice, we want to demonstrate the health and economic benefits of investing in prevention in an ageing world. And over the next couple years, we want to grow and build a programme of activities to elevate its importance, hold governments to account, and influence national and global policy.”
Veronica Franklin Gould, President, Arts 4 Dementia comments
“The Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index opens the door to a happier healthier world. For example, early direction to re-energising cultural and creative activities at the onset of dementia can empower people to preserve brain health, and reduce stigma, isolation and care costs.”
Professor John Weinman, Professor of Psychology as applied to Medicines, Kings College London says:
“Prevention in an ageing world is not just about preventing disease but helping people better manage their conditions through medication adherence. Using this platform to help governments develop policies and recommended practices for medicine-taking in older people should be a major priority to reduce the many serious medical complications and economic costs that arise from treatment non-adherence”.
