The global population is aging. The number of persons aged 60 years and over was 962
million in 2017 and will reach ∼2.1 billion by 2050.1 Health promotion/disease prevention
interventions targeting the elderly have been an almost totally neglected area in
health promotion programs before the turn of the millennium, just accepting simply
the fact that the health benefits from such programs measured solely by increase in
life expectancy are limited. The documents of the WHO on ‘Active ageing: a policy
framework’ developed in 2002 and replaced in 2015 by ‘Healthy ageing’ introduced a
new conceptual approach. 2 They emphasize that developing/maintaining the functional
ability enables older people to remain a resource to their families, communities and
economies. The three traditional action areas have been to ensure that communities
foster the abilities of older people; to deliver person-centered integrated care and
primary health services responsive to older people; and to provide access to long-term
care for older people. A new action area is now defined ‘to change how we think, feel
and act towards age and ageing’. It represents a paradigm shift: healthy aging of
the population is now viewed as an opportunity rather than a challenge to society.
From a public health point of view, maintaining the functional ability of the older
generations is important not only to fulfill the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development (‘leave no one behind’) but also to induce/improve the economic prosperity
in countries with ageing populations. During the first two decades of the 21st century
when in the domain of public health the importance of healthy population aging became
recognized, basic science breakthroughs revolutionized the field of geroscience and
changed how we think about aging in biological terms. Today one of the most challenging
questions in our field is how the translation of geroscience discoveries to public
health practice can enhance programs promoting ‘healthy aging’.
