76 m older excluded from vital healthcare

Seventy six million older people around the world are being excluded from vital healthcare, with life expectancy at 60 decreasing or static in 38 out of 194 countries, says HelpAge International’s campaigning network Age Demands Action.
The results show the urgent need for universal healthcare for older people and the extent to which their healthcare needs are being neglected.
Progress has been made to improve life expectancy globally but the gains made exclude 76.8 million people aged 60 and over - close to 10% of the global population of older people across 194 countries.
Using data from the World Health Organisation, results reveal average life expectancy at birth has increased by six years but life expectancy at 60 has increased by only two years between 1990 and 2011 across the same countries.
In 38 countries, life expectancy at 60 has been static or fallen, ranging from ‘young’ countries like Gambia, Senegal, Tajikistan. “The populations within many of these ‘young’ countries will become old, in time, so there is a real chance now to provide universal access to health care and improve outcomes in later life,” said an official in a press release.
Expert urges that Governments need to provide access to primary healthcare where illnesses like diabetes can be managed, access to essential medicines provided and ensure that trained health care workers are able to respond to the needs of older people.