Wolfe Megan, Gracia J Nadine
Trust for America's Health, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
Geriatrics (Basel). 2023 Jun 2;8(3):63. doi: 10.3390/geriatrics8030063.
The United States population is living longer and healthier than ever. This enables our communities-and our society-to continue to benefit from our knowledge, experience, and energy as we age. The public health system is foundational for increasing life expectancy, and now it has the opportunity to further support older adult health and well-being. Trust for America's Health (TFAH), in partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation, launched the age-friendly public health systems initiative in 2017 with the goal of raising awareness within the public health sector of its many potential roles in healthy aging. TFAH has worked with state and local departments of health to build capacity and expertise in older adult health and has provided guidance and technical assistance to expand this work across the U.S. TFAH now envisions a public health system that has healthy aging as a core function. This paper aims to describe why the public health sector should adopt healthy aging policies and practices, how this is being operationalized at the state and local levels, and the value of age-friendly public health systems within the age-friendly ecosystem.
美国人口的寿命比以往任何时候都更长,也更健康。这使我们的社区乃至整个社会,能够在我们变老的过程中继续受益于我们的知识、经验和活力。公共卫生系统是延长预期寿命的基础,现在它有机会进一步支持老年人的健康和福祉。美国健康信托(TFAH)与约翰·A·哈特福德基金会合作,于2017年发起了“对年龄友好的公共卫生系统”倡议,目的是提高公共卫生部门对其在健康老龄化方面诸多潜在作用的认识。TFAH与州和地方卫生部门合作,建设老年人健康方面的能力和专业知识,并提供指导和技术援助,以在美国各地拓展这项工作。TFAH现在设想建立一个以健康老龄化为核心功能的公共卫生系统。本文旨在阐述公共卫生部门为何应采用健康老龄化政策和做法,这在州和地方层面是如何实施的,以及在对年龄友好的生态系统中对年龄友好的公共卫生系统的价值。