he United Nations has designated the years 2021-2030 as the Decade of Healthy Ageing. It calls on all aspects of society, including governments, civil society, academia, international organisations, the media and the private sector, to work together to make the world a better place for old people so they can live healthy and happy lives.

Combating ageism, creating age-friendly environments, integrated care and long-term care are the four action areas for the Decade of Healthy Ageing. Improvements are expected in these areas by 2030. The goal of the decade is to improve old people’s “functional ability”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a baseline report to serve as a starting point against which performance in 2030 will be measured. This baseline study describes healthy ageing in detail. It is a process of developing and maintaining “functional ability”.

The report highlights that the most essential feature in healthy living is functional ability. If this is improved, old people’s lives will become better. It’s critical to comprehend what functional ability entails.

Functional ability combines the intrinsic capacity of the individual, the environment a person lives in and how people interact with their environment. With respect to one’s abilities, it has five domains; the first is basic needs for living, i.e. food, clothing, housing, and access to health services. The second is individuals’ independence to make decisions. The third is being mobile to carry out daily tasks and participate in activities. The fourth is social relationships, and the fifth is contribution to society.

The intrinsic capacity refers to the physical and mental capacities of a person. It includes physical movement, sensory capacity (vision, hearing, etc), vitality, cognition, and psychological capacity. The third component, environment, relate to home, community and society. It includes key domains like natural environment, assistive devices, emotional support, attitudes and services and policies to enhance functioning in old age.

Due to the unavailability of data, the WHO’s baseline report compares data from just 42 countries. The analysis has revealed that 142 million old people in these countries are unable to meet their basic needs. The absence of data on healthy ageing contributes to their invisibility. Governments and other stakeholders must invest in data to track, monitor and measure.

Combating ageism, creating age-friendly environments, integrated care, and long-term care are the four action areas of the Decade of Healthy Ageing. Improvements are expected in these areas by 2030. The goal of the decade is to improve older people’s “functional ability”.

Pakistan is one of just 15 countries with a population of over 10 million people aged 60 and above. With a current population of 16 million senior citizens in Pakistan, it is predicted that by 2050, the country’s senior citizen population will have grown to 45 million. Pakistan is also a signatory to the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing, highlighting the importance of old people having a secure income, access to health care, shelter and participation in decision-making. On the other hand, Pakistan still lacks a national policy on senior citizens’ rights and care.

In Pakistan, the Senior Citizen Acts were passed by the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan in 2014, 2016 and 2017, respectively. The Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Act was also passed in 2021. However, old people in Punjab continue to lack a law protecting their rights. Unfortunately, implementation of the legislation is has either not begun or is moving at a very slow pace.

The Decade of Healthy Ageing strongly focuses on the availability of data and information to measure improvement in the functional ability of old people. The baseline report has also outlined the goals for tracking progress over time; the first report will be issued in 2023 and further reports in 2026 and. All WHO and UN member states have committed to the process and it is expected that globally 194 countries will report information.

It is critical for the government of Pakistan to begin planning for the first report, which is expected in 2023 and to raise awareness about the Decade of Healthy Ageing and the baseline report. Furthermore, other departments should come up and integrate healthy ageing in their plans and programmes, in addition to the Department of Social Welfare. Since functional ability is a broad concept, all segments of society must collaborate to create an age-friendly environment.

It is essential that the governments collaborate with the private sector and civil society to increase awareness and develop new programmes. It is critical that academia lead new research efforts and assist the government in identifying gaps. This is a good opportunity for academia to conduct new research on the functional ability of older people in Pakistan.

The author is a communications specialist and a freelance writer. He is based in Rawalpindi and can be reached at: qureshiwaqas@gmail.com. He tweets @qureshiwaqasA