Experts advise elderly to enjoy healthy aging

Oldies, rejoice! You have many more good years to come!

But eat well, lay off the booze and throw away that stick.

That’s the advice from experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to senior citizens in the Philippines and around the world who want to experience the joys of “healthy aging.”

“It is important that we see old age not as a time of inevitable decline but as one of active, meaningful and productive living,” said Dr. Shin Young-soo, WHO regional director for Western Pacific, to mark World Health Day, which was observed globally on Saturday.

In the Philippines, the senior citizen population was estimated at 3.7 million in 1995, and 4.8 million five years later.  Currently, the country has seven million senior citizens, which constitute 6.9 percent of the total population.

Shin, in a statement, said life expectancies had significantly increased over the past century, mainly due to improvements in public health, and that people were now living longer as birth rates had declined in many parts of the world.

With this trend, it has been projected that, globally, people aged 65 and above will outnumber children under five within the next five years. By 2050, these older adults will outnumber children under 14, according to Shin.

“Dramatic changes” on the graying population should be expected in the low- and middle-income countries.

Shin said that while it took more than 100 years for France’s senior citizen population to double, China’s over 65-year-old population was expected to increase twofold in less than 25 years.

By 2050, the proportion of the world’s population aged 60 and above is expected to rise to 22 percent from 11 percent in 2000.

“We should rejoice at humankind’s growing longevity,” Shin said. “At the same time, we should prepare our health and social systems for the coming demographic transformation.”

Harmful consumption

If countries fail to prepare for the rapid aging of their population, governments will be overwhelmed by the rise in the number of people with long-term disabilities and those who need care for diseases like stroke, diabetes and cancer, among others, the WHO official warned.

Shin stressed the need to dispel “negative and inaccurate” stereotypes of older people as frail, forgetful and incapable.

“Such stereotyping often discourages them from participating in social, political, economic, cultural, spiritual and civic life despite the many skills and experiences that they have to offer,” he said.

He added: “Fortunately, how we age depends to a large degree on how we behave. By watching what we eat, being physically active and avoiding exposure to tobacco and the harmful effects of alcohol consumption, we can add both years to our life and life to our years.”

Million vaccines

Recognizing that the rise of the aging population entailed an increase in the demand for health services, the Department of Health (DOH) said it had lined up appropriate and quality health services for the elderly, especially those belonging to the marginalized sector.

In 2011, among its many programs for the aged, the DOH distributed 197,000 pneumococcal and 173,000 influenza vaccines to selected areas for the benefit of the elderly, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said.

This year, it will give out 1.04 million vaccines to indigent senior citizens belonging to families identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.

“The DOH will continue its … health activities for our elderly and implement programs that would provide them affordable and quality health care services they deserve,” Ona said.