Women live longer than men, but average more years of ill-health late in life. Older women's health reflects their access to heath care, food and nutrition throughout their lives, including their child-bearing years. Births too early or too closely spaced, poor nutrition and anaemia during the reproductive years contribute to poor health later in life. Menopause is linked to increased risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and reproductive tract infections. In many countries health service providers do not give priority to menopause and its health effects, though this is changing.
Scientific opinion is divided on the biological limits of human life.
In any case, it will be a challenge to extend biomedical advances that prolong health to poorer people and countries. Ageing populations will strain medical systems in many developing countries which are still struggling to protect the health of younger age groups. The burden of disease will shift to older ages over the next several decades. This change, however, does not justify reorienting health services towards treatment of diseases affecting older people at the expense of improving preventive programmes and services for poorer and less healthy people of all ages. Gender-disaggregated health statistics on the elderly are rare.