Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry, India.
Indian J Public Health. 2012 Jul-Sep;56(3):189-95. doi: 10.4103/0019-557X.104217.
Advances in medicine have increased the life expectancy resulting in an increase in the geriatric population all over the world, and their proportion will only continue to rise in the coming years. It is known that the elderly bear a significant burden of morbidity, which is why health systems globally spearheaded by the WHO are waking up to the need for better geriatric health services. This includes India, whose health system continues to grapple with the health challenges of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. This article enumerates the various government policies and programs, constitutional and legal provisions available for the care of the elderly, and concludes that they are grossly inadequate to deal with the various physical, psychological, and emotional needs of the aging population. Mainstreaming of geriatric health to address the health needs of the elderly at all levels of health care, both in the public and the private sectors, giving due importance to multidimensional rehabilitative services and terminal care, involving NGOs and voluntary organizations, and stepping up social security in old age are the recommended measures for improving geriatric health in India.
医学的进步提高了预期寿命，导致全球老年人口增加，而且在未来几年，这一比例只会继续上升。众所周知，老年人承受着巨大的发病负担，这就是为什么全球卫生系统（世卫组织牵头）开始认识到需要更好的老年健康服务。印度就是其中之一，其卫生系统仍在努力应对传染病和非传染病带来的健康挑战。本文列举了为老年人护理提供的各种政府政策和计划、宪法和法律规定，并得出结论认为，这些政策和规定远远不足以满足老龄化人口的各种身体、心理和情感需求。将老年医学纳入主流，以满足各级医疗保健机构中老年人的健康需求，在公共和私营部门都要重视多维度康复服务和临终关怀，让非政府组织和志愿组织参与其中，并加强老年人的社会保障，这些都是改善印度老年健康的建议措施。
