Discuss about the Health of Older Adults for World Health Organization.
There is no universal definition for the age for older adults. However, World Health Organization (WHO) has defined old age as the non- competence for performing the roles previously performed by the individual, inability to actively contribute towards the society and institution of new role in life (World Health Organization, 2014). Different countries have different considerations for old age. The age of 60 years is considered to be old age in United Nation and some other countries have specified the age of 65 years as old age (Fox, Baldock, Freeman & Berry, 2016).
The term life expectancy can be defined as the average period of time that a person may expect to survive if there are no changes in the mortality pattern found at the time of birth of such an individual (Koontz, 2012). Over a period of time, there has been a radical variation in the life expectancy of each and every country. With the help of various government policies, the average life expectancy has significantly increased by 20 years. However, the poor countries are still not capable of attaining this figure. The government strategies have proved to be of great help in the retirement phase of an individual. The difference in the life expectancies in different countries is the result of diverse social, economic and political environment (Deimling, Brown, Albitz, Burant & Mallick, 2017).
This report focuses on the comparison of data around life expectancy in New Zealand and India along with the factors that influence the life expectancy of people in these countries. Moreover, it highlights the theme of New Zealand Health Aging Strategy along with the reasons of its development. Furthermore, this report compares the theme of the strategy with Indian health aging strategy.
Different regions have different life expectancies as a result of economic differences and regional variations. The life expectancy at birth is calculated on the basis of sources such as Demographic Statistics, Eurostat, U.S Census Bureau, Census Reports and various other sources. The life expectancy is significantly improving in different parts of the world as a result of availability of improved education and health services along with noticeable improvements in the lifestyle.
The World Bank provides data related to life expectancy from the year 1960 to 2016. In 1960, the total life expectancy at birth taking into account the figures of males and females in New Zealand and India was 71.237 years and 41.174 years. The life expectancy of males in both the countries was 68.7 years and 41.89 years. Similarly, the life expectancy of females in these countries was 73.9 years and 40.413 years (The World Bank, 2018).
After 40 years, in the year 2000, there was a noticeable change in both the countries. The total life expectancy at birth in New Zealand and India was 78.637 years and 62.582 years. Classifying the life expectancy for males and females separately, it was 76.1 years and 61.789 years for males and 81.3 years and 63.438 years for females (The World Bank, 2018).
The latest data related to life expectancy provided by the World Bank is for the year 2016. The comparison between the life expectancy of males in New Zealand and India provides that in New Zealand, the average life expectancy is 79.91 years and in India, it is 67.094 years. on the other hand, the life expectancy of females in New Zealand and India 83.4 years and 70.166 years. This leads to the total life expectancy at birth of males and females in New Zealand and India to be 81.612 years and 68.56 years (The World Bank, 2018). This means that India is still not able to match up with the figures of New Zealand.
The comparison further provides that the changes in the life expectancy are the result of changes in the lifestyle of the people as people have started living an improved life. This improved life is due to the reason of increase in proper medication, income and nutrition along with a number of other factors. In India, the major causes of death include road traffic accidents, cancer, tuberculosis, low birth weight, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, etc. (Mathers, Stevens, Boerma, White & Tobias, 2015).
There are a number of factors due to which the life expectancy of people is influenced such as lifestyle, nutrition, education, housing, income, etc. Moreover, there is also an influence of gender, heredity and age on the life expectancy. According the World Health Organization (WHO), various factors determine the health of an individual such as the social, physical and economic environment along with the individual characteristics and behaviors of a person. The improved life expectancy around the world is the result of low number of deaths below the age of five (Conner, McKinnon, Ward, Reynolds III, & Brown, 2015).
In case of New Zealand, there are some regions where people have access to less number of economic resources. Such people have shorter life expectancy as compared to the people who have most of the resources in easy access (Skiadas & Skiadas, 2018). People with lower income suffer from lower quality of life as they are not able of affording good health and nutrition. The life expectancy in New Zealand is also influenced by physical activity which when combined with healthy diet improves the quality of life. The people who are engaged in physical activities are able to defend diseases like cardiovascular disease and obesity and which in turn leads to increased life expectancy (Park, Elavsky & Koo, 2014). There is also an influence of alcohol consumption and smoking on the life expectancy of people. The physical and mental health of a person is affected due to hazardous drinking which may further lead to violence, road accidents, etc. the life expectancy of males is shorter than that of females along with higher mortality rates (Collins, Tutone & Walker, 2017).
On the other hand, India is a developing country. Therefore, the life expectancy of people is India is influenced by factors such as education, marital status, economic status, health care, family history, drug us, etc. Over a period of time, there has been a significant increase in the level of nutrition, standard of living and therefore in the overall quality of life (Canudas- Romo, Saikia & Diamond- Smith, 2015). The rural India suffers from the problem of high infant mortality rate. The rural India also suffers from malnutrition due to lower incomes which in turn leads the people towards organ failure or death. Health care schemes such as Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana have been incorporated by the Government of India for the purpose of improving the health of the individual. Moreover, the government has also addressed various issues related to health care in India such as female health issues, poor sanitation, non- availability of safe drinking water, etc. (Sen, 2017) Also, attempts are continuously being made with regard to increasing the literacy rate in the country for the purpose of contributing towards health care awareness and increase in the overall life expectancy (Canudas- Romo, Saikia & Diamond- Smith, 2015).
The vision of the Healthy Aging Strategy is that the older people age well, live well and that they have an end of life in a respectful age friendly communities. A life- course approach has been adopted by the strategy which seeks to bring best health and wellbeing outcomes for the older adults. A framework has been set out by the strategy which provides funding, policies, service delivery and planning which supports healthy aging. The framework enables high quality restorative and acute care for effective recovery, rehabilitation and restoration (Ministry of Health 2016).
The actions of the New Zealand Healthy Aging Strategy reflect the themes of five Health strategies of New Zealand. Such themes are closer to home, people powered, one team, value and high performance and smart system. A wider system is articulated by these teams in which the objectives of Healthy Ageing Strategy can be attained. The strategy describes the desired future, makes the identification of cultures and values with the help of which this future can be underpinned along with setting out five strategic themes so that the required changes can be made in order to reach the vision of the strategy. The strategy recognizes that the health of an individual is also affected by the environment they live in. The initiative taken under the strategy focuses on building and maintenance of mental and physical capacity of people and delaying and preventing the onset of disease and disability.
Since the release of Health of Older People Strategy 2002, there were many significant areas of improvements to the disability and health support system. The government has started supporting long term health conditions and provides comprehensive needs assessment and brings the required improvements in the quality of home and community services. For the purpose of maintaining these positive changes, a new strategy was required that is capable of expanding on the strengths of the past and provides further direction for improving the performance and results across the board. The Health Aging Strategy was incorporated for older people, their communities and their families. The strategy aimed at the health and wellbeing of older people (Nishtala, Gnjidic, Chyou & Hilmer, 2016).
The reason behind the development of the Healthy Aging strategy is to give priority to resilience and healthy aging into and throughout the older years of people. The aim of the strategy is to provide better support to individuals with complex needs. The development of the strategy is the result of the recognition of different ways of aging and different needs of people that arise at different times along with the effect of environment on the health of an individual. Therefore, the strategy was developed for the purpose of enhancing the growth and development, ensuring highest capacity of a person and preventing them from diseases through their life. The term health aging has been defined by WHO as the process of development and maintenance of the functional ability of a person which in turn assists in enabling wellbeing in old age. The strategy was developed with the aim of enabling people with disability to perform things that are of prime importance to them along with enhancing their social connection, participation and ensuring their dignity in the rest of their life.
There have been some social and political changes which have also contributed towards the development of the strategy. The social picture of the country has significantly changed over the years after the Health of Older People Strategy 2002. The politics on the basis of classes have also reduced leading to improvements. In the year 2002, when this strategy was published, people over the age of 65 years constituted only 11.5 % of the population of New Zealand (Christensen, Doblhammer, Rau & Vaupel, 2009). This figure has now increased to 15 % and is expected to increase further. The strategy is focused on increasing these figures by way of providing healthy living. Also, the social changes also include improved lifestyle of the people of New Zealand due to increase in income and improved access to healthcare and education (Laursen, Musliner, Benros, Vestergaard & Munk- Olsen, 2016).
The theme of New Zealand Healthy Aging Strategy can be compared with a similar theme for healthy aging in India. The Government of India has incorporated a National Program of Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE). The program hopes for the healthy aging of the older people. The theme of NPHCE is highlighted in its vision which is to create a new architecture for aging, providing affordable, accessible and high quality dedicated services to the older people along with building a framework that enables the environment to become a society for every age and promoting the concept of healthy and active aging. This is different from the theme of the Healthy Aging Strategy of New Zealand which is based on the five health strategies of New Zealand. Such themes are closer to home, people powered, one team, value and high performance and smart system (Verma & Khanna, 2013).
The comparison of the strategy and program further provides that basic purpose of both ae same i.e. to offer healthy aging to the older adults. The strategy and the program have also proved to be beneficial for both the countries to a great extent. Further improvements are expected through the implementation of these strategies (Singh & Ladusingh, 2016). For achieving the objectives of NPHCE, certain strategies are used such as public private partnerships promotion in geriatric health care, making the use of folk media, mass media and a number of other communication channels for the purpose of reaching the target audience, dedicated facilities at the medical institutes of the region with human resources, bedded wards, consumables and drugs, machinery and equipment, training and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) (Shankardass & Rajan, 2018).
Health conditions around the globe are displaying a positive trend. Still, there is requirement for eradicating or controlling some of the major health problems. The problems of inequality will be automatically resolved when the mechanisms of global governance will be improved (Chetty, Stepner & Cutler, 2016).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the life expectancy of people differs among the people around globe. This is due the economic differences and regional variations. Over a period of time, the life expectancy has significantly improved in almost every country across the globe. This report focused on the comparison between the life expectancies of people in New Zealand and India. It further provides that there are some factors that influence the life expectancies of people in these countries. In New Zealand, such factors include lack of access to the economic resources, lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption, cardiovascular diseases and obesity, etc. On the other hand, in India, such factors include high infant mortality rate, lack of education, healthcare facilities, etc. Furthermore, this report outlines the theme of the Healthy Aging Strategy of New Zealand which reflects the themes of five Health strategies of New Zealand. Such themes are closer to home, people powered, one team, value and high performance and smart system. The report has also highlighted the background of the strategy along with the reason behind its development including social and political change. At the end, comparison of the strategy is made with the National Program of Health Care for the Elderly.
References
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Deimling, G. T., Brown, S. P., Albitz, C., Burant, C. J., & Mallick, N. (2017). The relative importance of cancer?related and general health worries and distress among older adult, long?term cancer survivors. Psycho?Oncology, 26(2), 182-190.
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