A timely call to establish an international convention on the rights of older people

A/Prof John E. Ataguba, Director of the Health Economics Unit in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine and colleagues, Prof. David E Bloom (Harvard University) and Prof. Andrew J Scott (London Business School) published a paper in the Lancet Healthy Longevity recently.  The paper argues that a lacuna exists in the global institutional architecture regarding older people. It highlights the urgent need for establishing an international convention on the rights of older people to ensure that they are not left behind and that their economic, social, emotional, and security needs are voiced and protected.  They note that the world may have been ill-prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, but this should not be the case for an ageing population, which is becoming inevitable as the world’s population aged 65+ is outnumbering those under 5. 

Read more about the paper. 

Earlier, the authors published a piece with the World Economic Forum on the need and importance of investing in healthy ageing.