21st Century Health System Resilience: Lessons From the Pandemic on Innovation and Healthy Aging

A new report by the Global Coalition on Aging, 21st Century Health System Resilience: Lessons From the Pandemic on Innovation and Healthy Aging explores the imperative for global health care systems to realign in order to accelerate innovation to meet the challenges – and opportunities – posed by the scientific miracle of longevity and the aging of society. The report was made possible through support from GCOA members and a generous sponsorship from Biogen.

The United Nations’ and World Health Organization’s recently launched Decade of Healthy Ageing is a welcome sign that global policymakers understand the need to make health systems more responsive to the demands of aging societies.

According to the report, “Fully aligning health care systems to a world with 2.1 billion people over age 60 by mid-century will require innovation on a massive scale that can only be achieved by fundamentally re-examining the way countries regulate and reimburse the treatments we will need to care for our growing aging populations.”

Most national health systems were created to provide and pay for acute care – where people are treated for brief but severe periods of illness.  The “disease-cure” model worked when lifespans were short and diseases of aging were more rare.  But it is not designed for a world where billions of people live for decades with steadily worsening conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

The report outlines several potential areas of reform:

  • Adopting patient-centered metrics based on functional ability for measuring success in health care.
  • Emphasizing early detection and management of diseases to promote functional ability.
  • Accelerating innovation across drug development.
  • Expanding the discussion to include a broader range of stakeholders beyond traditional health ministries.
  • Adopting a more comprehensive approach to valuing new innovations to account for costs such as informal care often required to handle the diseases of aging.

“Reimagining healthcare systems to meet the needs of healthy aging and an overall healthier society has been proven in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Michael W. Hodin, CEO of GCOA. “Policymakers must recognize the value of these investments and the power that comes with enabling better prevention, diagnosis and treatment. In our aging world, to continually innovate must be a scientific, political and investment priority.”

Latest Developments

We keep our members and partners in touch with the most recent updates and opinions in the worldwide dialogue on population longevity and related issues.

Brazil Must Fight Antibiotic Resistance

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We Missed 100 Million Adult Vaccines – Here’s How We Get Back on Track

Like other pandemics throughout human history, COVID-19 has caused profound changes that are still rippling through our societies, even as people are understandably eager to move on. In fact, these impacts are all the more dangerous when they are largely ignored or effectively invisible. The decline in adult vaccination may be one of the most significant, as a new report finds that ~100 million doses were missed in 2021 and 2022 alone – reversing global progress towards widespread adult immunisation as a new standard of care in a world of more old than young.

New Analysis Shows Lost Ground on Adult Immunisation During the Pandemic with 100 Million Doses Potentially Missed

New data shared today by GSK, in collaboration with the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science and the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), estimate approximately 100 million fewer doses of some adult vaccines (excluding Covid-19 vaccines) were administered in 2021 and 2022 than anticipated, based on the global vaccination adoption trends observed from 2013 to 2020, compounding already low adoption rates pre-pandemic.

Going Beyond Applause: The Potential of Caregiving to Unlock Job Opportunities of the Future

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of caregivers – staff and family who provide care for older and dependent people to carry out activities such as eating or moving - catapulted to the front of our collective conscience. The daily applause for front-line care workers showed a high level of recognition for their incredible work and provided insight into how our health systems must change as our society ages. We need to continue to recognise caregivers as essential to our ageing society.

High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy 2023

Join us for the High-Level Forum on the Silver Economy 2023. Now in its fourth year, the Silver Economy Forum 2023, December 6 and 7, will explore aging at every stage of life, looking at the growing global Silver Economy through a multigenerational lens. Linking to the goals and aspirations of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, SEF 2023 will highlight key themes at the intersection of aging at every age, and the Silver Economy.

Global Coalition on Aging Workshop Calls on G7 Countries to Fund Pull Incentives to Spur Antibiotic Innovation

The Global Coalition on Aging, in partnership with JPMA, today announced the release of its workshop report on the AMR crisis facing G7 countries and the world, “The Value of Pull Incentives in Japan to Encourage Investment in Antibiotic Innovation to Solve the AMR Crisis.” If strong action is not taken to address AMR, we will lose the antibiotics we need to cure infections, which is likely to outpace cancer as a major cause of death, killing an estimated 10 million by 2050.