Photo by Xevi Casanovas on Unsplash
Adding life to years: enabling older people to be and to do what they value most
Life expectancy at birth in the EU is estimated at 80.9 years while healthy life year expectancy is estimated at 63.7 years (Eurostat, 2017).
Longer lives are one of the most remarkable collective achievements at EU level. There are however great inequities in longevity so that good health in older age is not distributed equally. These are linked to many different factors starting with the socio-economic background as well as the environmental conditions.
Health is crucial to how we experience older age (WHO)
Health promotion and disease prevention are still not enough prioritised, while people living longer in good health can more easily continue to participate and be an integral part of the society. They face less social isolation and dependency on care.
We believe it is crucial to better invest in health promotion and disease prevention supporting healthy ageing across life course. Likewise, we promote equal access to quality and adequate healthcare, including for older persons.
This policy area covers notably health promotion and disease prevention, physical and mental health, digital health, medicines in older people.
We work mainly on...
- Promoting health as a human right at all ages, through our participation in relevant processes like the Sustainable Development Goals and the work of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
- Supporting the Decade of Healthy Ageing as a key and comprehensive initiative to shed lights on second half of life and improve the lives of older people, their families and communities.
- Raising awareness on key issues such as mental health in old age, gender dimension of health, climate change and air pollution impact on older persons.
- Developing digital health technologies with older people, not only for them.
- Advocating for safe and adequate medicines in older age.
- Joining forces with the European Public Health Alliance whose we are a member of.
from WHO infographics on Ageing and Health
Useful links
> World Health Organisation
- Ageing and Life Course
- World Report on Ageing and Health (2015)
- Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030)
- WHO Europe and Ageing
- OECD - Health
> European Commission
- Health and Food Safety
- European Initiative Partnership on active and healthy ageing
- Digital Single Market and Health
> European Medicine Agency
> European Public Health Alliance
EU research projects
We have been involved in a number of EU-funded projects dealing with health. You can view them here.
Contact person
Julia Wadoux, Policy Coordinator: julia.wadoux@age-platform.eu
> AGE news on Healthy Ageing
> Other EU news on Healthy Ageing
> Useful links/documents
