The document gives a short overview of the dimensions of global ageing and describes the perspectives and directions of the programme which builds on the achievements of the WHO Health of the Elderly Programme established in 1979 that was the precursor of the current programme. The pace and patterns of ageing in developing countries are without precedent. Neither the demographic processes nor the social context have parallels in the experience of the developed countries. At this point, the World Health Organization can exert crucial influence to increase awareness and design broad initiatives to address the challenges at hand. The design of the WHO Ageing and Health Programme, and the concept of ageing on which it builds provide a framework for an effective WHO response to population ageing worldwide.
Population ageing represents a triumph of social development and public health.
In addition, antibiotics and new medical technologies provide the means to prevent premature death caused by diseases in the middle-aged and young old. This is resulting in the survival of much larger populations to even older ages. In the developed countries the process of socio-economic development has proceeded in tandem with population ageing. As a result, the benefits of development by way of improved standards of living were shared across the majority of the population. This challenge is proving difficult in view of extreme budgetary pressures on already strained health and social services systems, and the varying degree to which Member States of WHO have responded to population ageing.