The increase in life expectancy in the country has led to newer health challenges in the community. What are those challenges and what steps need to be taken to meet them?

Life Expectancy is an estimate of the average number of additional years that a person of a given age can expect to live. According to Registrar General of India, India’s life expectancy is 69.

New Health Challenges:

1. Rise in Elderly Population: The Quality of Life for Elderly Index mentions that the share of elders is expected to increase from around 7.5% in 2001 and will surpass 19.5% by 2050. 
2. Feminisation of Ageing in rural India. 
3. Increased requirement of Geriatric Care leading to issues in social security net and rising government budgets. 
4. Challenges with Health Insurance: Less than 1% of older adults have health insurance, and ageing-related morbidities are a grey area in terms of coverage. 
5. Changing Disease Burden: With the number of non-communicable diseases is already outgrowing infectious diseases contributing to 60% of deaths.

Steps to be taken:

• Geriatric pharmacotherapy to be included in the Undergraduate, PG and Nursing course to understand the impact of drugs on elderly. 
• Utilise NGO like Help age India. 
• Provide easy access to preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative services to the elderly at all levels of health care delivery system along with specialized long-term and short-term training of health professionals

Health education programmes using mass media, folk media and other communication channels are being promoted to reach out to the target community for promoting the concept of healthy ageing, importance of physical exercise, healthy habits, and reduction of stress.