US$400 million for healthy aging and elder care.
Ira Pastor ideaXme life sciences ambassador interviews Shelley Lyford, President and Chief Executive Officer of West Health, the Gary and Mary West Foundation, and the West Health Institute.
Ira comments:
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the world is on the brink of a demographic milestone. Since the beginning of recorded history, young children have outnumbered their elders. In about 5 years’ time, the number of people aged 65 or older will outnumber children under age 5. Driven by falling fertility rates and remarkable increases in life expectancy, population aging will continue, and even accelerate. The number of people aged 65 or older is projected to grow from an estimated 524 million in 2010 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050, with most of the increase in developing countries.
Key questions arise:
- Will population aging be accompanied by a longer period of good health, a sustained sense of well-being, and extended periods of social engagement and productivity, or will it be associated with more illness, disability, and dependency?
- How will aging affect health care and social costs?
- Can we act to establish a physical and social infrastructure that might foster better health and wellbeing in older age?