Healthy Ageing After Covid 19

Written by researchers and experienced health professionals from Hong Kong, China, Chiu and Law identify and examine important issues of healthy ageing after COVID-19 from research and policy perspectives in the Asian contexts. This book opens with discussions of healthy ageing from personal, social, economic, and political perspectives. These discussions make reference to the key characteristics of a community health model. It aims to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on aged care in an international perspective, citing the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong as a case report. Comprehensive analysis on the influence of COVID-19 infection on Hong Kong and the implemented anti-pandemic policy measures, as well as recommendations of post-pandemic policies to promote healthy ageing, are provided. This monograph also reviews the worldwide impacts on aged care during and after the pandemic, as well as the experience of aged care services in Hong Kong and other Asia-Pacific regions. The responding changes in policies and strategies for healthy ageing in selected countries are also reviewed. This monograph ends with a highlight on the design and development of a community model for healthy ageing, providing insights to the achievement of sustainable healthy ageing with reference to the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3. A valuable resource to governments, politicians, academics, and practitioners, it is intended for formulating future directions of relevant research, and the design and implementation of interventions for the promotion of healthy ageing in the post-pandemic era.

"Written by researchers and experienced health professionals from Hong Kong, China, Chiu and Law identify and examine important issues of healthy ageing after COVID-19 from research and policy perspectives in the Asian contexts. This book opens with discussions of healthy ageing from personal, social, economic and political perspectives. These discussions make reference to the key characteristics of a community health model. It aims to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on aged care in an international perspective, citing the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong as a case report. Comprehensive analysis on the influence of COVID-19 infection on Hong Kong and the implemented anti-pandemic policy measures, as well as recommendations of post-pandemic policies to promote healthy ageing, are provided. This monograph also reviews the worldwide impacts on aged care during and after the pandemic, as well as the experience of aged care services in Hong Kong and other Asia Pacific regions. The responding changes in policies and strategies for healthy ageing in selected countries are also reviewed. This monograph ends with a highlight on the design and development of a community model for healthy ageing, providing insights to the achievement of sustainable healthy ageing with reference to the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3. A valuable resource to governments, politicians, academics and practitioners, it is intended for formulating future directions of relevant research, and the design and implementation of interventions for the promotion of healthy ageing in the post-pandemic era"--

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges in the care of older adults. During the first surge of the pandemic, governments all over the world struggled with high disease severity and increased mortality among older adults. This work documents the impact of the pandemic by collating information from different countries and by synthesizing inputs from several knowledge domains—Sociology, Gerontology, Geriatrics, Medicine and Public Health. The impact on older adults is examined primarily with respect to three main issues—pervasive ageism, spread of infections in care homes worldwide, and the unintended harm of public health measures on geriatric population in different care settings. The complex tensions between epidemic control and the need to respond to social and economic imperatives are investigated with respect to disadvantaged and vulnerable older adults. The book also critically examines international ageing policies with the intention of identifying gaps in pandemic response in particular, and approaches to older adult care in general. In the light of the evidence presented, lessons are drawn which might improve aged care and strengthen emergency preparedness. Finally, considering the evolving nature of the pandemic, new international responses to older adult care and pandemic management are presented as an epilogue. It is anticipated that the book would help nourish critical thinking and implement new solutions to older care during and beyond the pandemic

The WHO World report on ageing and health is not for the book shelf it is a living breathing testament to all older people who have fought for their voice to be heard at all levels of government across disciplines and sectors. - Mr Bjarne Hastrup President International Federation on Ageing and CEO DaneAge This report outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. This will require a transformation of health systems away from disease based curative models and towards the provision of older-person-centred and integrated care. It will require the development sometimes from nothing of comprehensive systems of long term care. It will require a coordinated response from many other sectors and multiple levels of government. And it will need to draw on better ways of measuring and monitoring the health and functioning of older populations. These actions are likely to be a sound investment in society's future. A future that gives older people the freedom to live lives that previous generations might never have imagined. The World report on ageing and health responds to these challenges by recommending equally profound changes in the way health policies for ageing populations are formulated and services are provided. As the foundation for its recommendations the report looks at what the latest evidence has to say about the ageing process noting that many common perceptions and assumptions about older people are based on outdated stereotypes. The report's recommendations are anchored in the evidence comprehensive and forward-looking yet eminently practical. Throughout examples of experiences from different countries are used to illustrate how specific problems can be addressed through innovation solutions. Topics explored range from strategies to deliver comprehensive and person-centred services to older populations to policies that enable older people to live in comfort and safety to ways to correct the problems and injustices inherent in current systems for long-term care.

This handbook provides an in-depth analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on older people across different countries, focusing on important issues affecting ageing societies. It presents an analytical framework of various emerging concerns affecting societies, transforming of social relationships, bringing in of new health problems, including mental health, elder abuse, impact on intergenerational relationships and emotional and psychological matters. It explores the choices of governments to address the arising issues, indicates different community responses and discusses the experiences of older people in handling of problems cropping up, which affect their quality of life in various ways. The book offers readers new dimensions of the issues nations face with possible similar solutions and ways to handle the concerns. The book is valuable for researchers, practitioners, and students pursuing anthropology, sociology, psychology, and gerontology. The book offers many disciplinary international and national perspectives to understand the relationship between the pandemic and older people.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. This volume presents a range of research approaches to the exploration of ageing during a pandemic situation. One of the first collections of its kind, it offers an array of studies employing research methodologies that lend themselves to replication in similar contexts by those seeking to understand the effects of epidemics on older people. Thematically organised, it shows how to reconcile qualitative and quantitative approaches, thus rendering them complementary, bringing together studies from around the world to offer an international perspective on ageing as it relates to an unprecedented epidemiological phenomenon. As such, it will appeal to researchers in the field of gerontology, as well as sociologists of medicine and clinicians seeking to understand the disruptive effects of the recent coronavirus outbreak on later life.

The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) offers a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st century. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. This book brings together global perspectives on the MIPAA and focusses on and assesses the success and failures of governments to implement its recommendations. Despite its pivotal importance in international ageing policy, the MIPAA has been relatively neglected by academics in their writings and studies. This book mitigates this analytical and empirical cavity. Each chapter focuses on one specific geographical region and addresses five key themes: national ageing situation; twenty years of MIPAA; ensuring ageing with dignity; healthy and active ageing in a sustainable world; and priorities for the future. It presents an overall summary of the findings, future challenges and opportunities related to ageing, recommendations for future actions to be taken, and policy adjustments needed. The authors also present lessons that were learnt from managing the impact of COVID-19 on older people, together with an outlook on the most immediate priorities for the future so that the recommendations in the MIPAA are achieved in post-COVID-19 and sustainable ethical scenarios. An important contribution towards the advancement of ageing policy, the book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gerontology, ageing, and health. It will also be of interest to policy makers, geriatricians, dementia care specialists, social policy makers responsible for ensuring active and healthy ageing, and all public sector departments which have specific responsibilities towards improving the quality of life of older adults.

This book presents studies of the main conditions that affect health and well-being of old people. Considering the present scenario of COVID-19, the effects of this viral infection on individuals older than 65 years are also discussed. The content enables professionals of health and government for the present and future actions in this important area. Readers go through the changes occurring in organs and tissues that can interfere with susceptibility to infections, low response to vaccines, cancer, and loss of cognition during the aging process. A discussion of the central role played by the immune system in the age-related diseases and how the immunity can be impaired during the ageing process is presented. Possibilities to circumvent these conditions via healthy habits in diet, physical exercise, and new pharmacological interventions are part of the content. This book discusses how human healthy longevity is dependent, at least in part, of a functional immune system. Chapters were written for researchers in the field of aging and is especially suited for those interested in the study of immunosenescence and inflammaging affecting the health of old individuals.