Health status and use of health services as reported by the older residents of the Baka neighborhood, Jerusalem.

The large increase in the aging population in Israel, particularly of people over 75, requires the upgrading of health services and their integration into comprehensive social support systems, which will help reduce the need for admission to institutions for long-term care. In our study, interviews were conducted with 77% of the residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Baka aged 60 and over and the data were supplemented by partial information on a further 20%. Our findings are similar to those reported from other surveys of the aged in Israel and indicate a high degree of unmet health needs in this population. Many of the problems of the elderly relate more to their social and cultural backgrounds than to objective measures of morbidity and they can only be partially solved by classical health services, even efficient ones. There is an urgent need for the development of integrated health, social and community service and support systems to meet the needs of this rapidly growing community.