- The World Bank report “Unlocking the Power of Healthy Longevity: Demographic Change, Non-communicable Diseases and Human Capital” presents the findings and recommendations for life course investments to improve health, reduce poverty, address gender inequity, enhance productivity, and increase overall well-being.
- Healthy longevity means a state of good physical, cognitive, and social functioning throughout a person’s lifespan.
- Need to leverage population aging for health, societal, and economic gains by investing today in health.
- This includes measures to control non-communicable diseases as they majorly contribute to a large and growing burden of avoidable mortality.
- Investing in healthy longevity could save 150 million lives in low- and middle- income countries and extend millions more by 2050.
- Adults over 60 are the fastest-growing demographic across the world.
| Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) NCD is a disease that is not transmissible directly from one person to another. Including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for 74% of all deaths worldwide. India second-largest elderly population (140 million aged 60+). Rising NCD burden: 40% of deaths (1990) to 75% by 2030. key risk factors: tobacco use, alcohol abuse, sedentary lifestyles, and high-fat diets. |
Dig Deeper: Read about various initiatives of government in context of geriatric care.
