Govt undertakes Longitudinal Ageing Study to provide evidence on programs for elderly

Launching the decade of healthy ageing (2020-2030) campaign on the occasion of International Day of Older Persons, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the Longitudinal Aging Study of India (LASI) will provide an evidence base for national and state-level programs and policies dedicated to the senior citizens.

"With well-designed and judicious investments, an ageing population can help build-up human, social, economic and environmental capital. However, this would call for investing in all the phases of life, fostering enabling societies, and creating flexible but vibrant for building a society for all ages. For this to happen, formulation of policies and programmes of the government, or any modifications therein to improve their reach and delivery, need to be evidence-based," the minister said.

In order to generate comprehensive data on social, economic and health well-being of the elderly, Vardhan said that the government has undertaken the LASI, the first nationwide study and the world's largest study on seniors. Findings of LASI are being finalised by the Ministry and will be released shortly after, he added.

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Celebrating International Day of Older Persons

October 1 is celebrated as International Day of Older Persons, as declared by the United Nations, to recognise, enable and expand the contributions of older people in their families, communities and societies at large and to raise awareness about issues of ageing. The Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030) campaign is aimed at mainstreaming issues related to the elderly and for deliberating upon ways to ensure better and effective delivery of services to them.

The Health Minister also spoke on the COVID-19 outbreak as a public health challenge for people across the country and the world. The UN theme of the International Day of Older Persons 2020 is "Pandemics: Do They Change How We Address Age and Ageing?". In view of the higher risks faced by the elderly during such times, the government has recognised them as a vulnerable population category in this pandemic.

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(With inputs from agency)

(Image credits: PTI)