The European Commission and 22 of its Member States cofinanced, in 2017-2019, the first joint action to address frailty in older persons, known as ADVANTAGE Joint Action. The initiative developed a common strategy, based on the best scientific evidence, to position healthy aging and frailty as priority public health issues in the participating countries and thus contribute to uniformly addressing frailty across Europe. This article details the methodology and main achievements of ADVANTAGE and includes an analysis of the key factors contributing to its success.

[Extract] In just the past 50 years, life expectancy has increased by more than 20 years. This significant increase in longevity is due in part to advances in medicine, public health interventions, biotechnology, and social and economic development that have made it possible for people to live longer than at any other time in history (1).

[Extract] The framework of healthy aging has created a structure for research across the United Nations Decade of Healthy Aging (2021-2030) and for action to address the mission of the Sustainable Development Goals “to leave no one behind” (1). Across the decade, researchers, governments and civil society are urged to develop strategies to identify and address inequities and to foster healthy aging.

Objective.

To describe the levels of intrinsic capacity and those factors related to its decline in Mexican older adults, using the Mexican Health and Aging Study.

In the current context of the aging of populations and the increase in multiple chronic conditions and dependence, it is important that health systems provide opportunities to improve the capacities of older adults to enable healthy aging. Opportunities to enhance older adults’ abilities, including self-management, can be offered through evidence-based programs. Such programs have been proven effective in improving individuals’ symptoms and quality of life, often lowering health-care costs.

The Region of the Americas is facing accelerated demographic and epidemiological changes. As these trends will continue in future years, long-term care needs are expected to rise. How can countries respond to these challenges? We propose that countries in the Region should invest in the implementation of long-term care systems. Considering the heterogeneity in the Region, we propose a strategy based on three components: (i) understanding the problem; (ii) thinking about solutions; and (iii) building support and consensus.

This paper examines inequalities in income security in later age. Three dimensions of inequality are considered: (i) inequalities in access to income support across countries and types of schemes; (ii) inequalities in the level of support within countries; and (iii) trends in gender inequality. Scheme stratification reinforces inequalities across socioeconomic groups and gender.

Objective

The aim of this study is to describe the mortality among older adults in the first wave of COVID-19 in Colombia and Mexico.

Methods

This is an observational, prospective study on data obtained from open data sets that are publicly available on the websites of the health ministries of the respective countries. COVID-19 cases, age, sex, date to mortality, and mortality itself were analyzed with Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regressions.

Objectives

Identify the factors associated with future functional dependence in the elderly in Mexico and with receiving or not receiving support for basic activities of daily living (ADLs); and project the prevalence of functional dependence in 2026.