A Chance to Create a Better World?
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A Chance to Create a Better World? Sarah Harper 1 Published online: 6 August 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
At the beginning of 2020 the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Risks Report warned that the …institutions and approaches that have until now enabled health progress across the world are straining under gathering pressures and seem outmatched against new risks. Health systems around the world are at risk of becoming unfit for purpose. Changing societal, environmental, demographic and technological patterns are straining their capacity and that …around the world, health systems need to take a critical look at the fitness of their current approaches and institutions if we are to maintain the progress of the last century and tackle emerging threats. A precedent warning as the world was to realize as the early months of 2020 progressed. As the virus SARS-CoV-2 spread across the world, it soon became clear that older adults, and those of all ages with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, and respiratory illnesses, as well as those overweight or obese, appeared to be more likely both to develop the CV-19 disease and to experience more serious symptoms and at all ages men were more severely affected than women. In addition, the CV-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of millions of the world’s population, particularly in middle and low income countries, who not only lack clean water, sanitation and high quality food, but also shelter within which to selfisolate. It has also revealed the significant inequalities in high income countries: lack of social care for older adults, access to health care for those without private insurance, no security net for workers on insecure or zero-hours contracts. Several key issues have attracted particular concern in relation to older adults. Firstly, as noted above, is the capacity of health systems to cope with both CV-19 illnesses as well the existing pressures which are emerging in the twenty-first century, * Sarah Harper [email protected]
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Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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S. Harper
including the growth in chronic diseases. This is particularly the case in LMICs where nearly 70% of the global population over age 60 reside, and whose health systems are weaker. These health systems already face severe constraints on capacity in normal times and are unlikely to be able to offer the care needed. Secondly, the excess deaths in Europe’s care homes have also been a question of real concern. In the UK, for example, government figures1 revealed lack of testing, lack of PPE and the unregulated movement of care workers between homes and the community had allowed the unchecked spread of CV-19 for many weeks. It was already suspected that current hospital to care homes discharge guidelines and the structure and operation of care homes, including the role of care workers, were leading to a spread of infections in care homes and subsequently a high number of fatalities. In addition, tho
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