In June 2023, a new Bank of America report revealed striking disconnects between employer and employee perceptions of support around menopause. The report, developed in partnership with the National Menopause Foundation, surveyed 2,000 female workers and 500 benefit managers on menopause and its impacts in the workplace. Half of peri- and post-menopausal women (51%) reported that menopause negatively impacted their work life, yet only 14% believe their employers recognize the need for menopause-specific benefits. The underrecognized need for menopause-specific benefits comes as 20% of the workforce is in some phase of menopause transition and the number of post-menopausal women is expected to reach 1.1 billion by 2025 globally.

The research demonstrates the value of a menopause-specific benefit program as an imperative for future female employees and a point of differentiation in becoming an employer of choice.

A May 2023 study by the Transamerica Institute and the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies revealed gaps between employer offerings and employee needs in the post-pandemic workplace. Sixty-nine percent of employers cite one or more workforce-related issues as major concerns for their company’s leadership, and more than six in 10 (61%) reevaluated their health, retirement, and other benefit offerings in 2022.

Stepping Into the Future: Employers, Workers, and the Multigenerational Workforce examined employers’ benefit offerings, identified employees’ unmet needs, and outlined recommendations, including best practices for the multigenerational workforce, such as flexibility and benefits to support employees who are also caregivers. The report is based on a survey of 1,800 for-profit U.S. employers including small, medium, and large companies (<100, 100 to 499, 500+ employees, respectively), and a survey of 5,700 workers in for-profit companies.

In April 2023, the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) convened a private workshop of experts and officials from Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States to discuss how pull incentives within Japan and around the G7 could reinvigorate antibiotic innovation.

They found that:

• The antimicrobials market can be revitalized by pull incentives worth between US$2.2 and US$4.5 billion per drug, paid over 10 years. This can be achieved if G7 countries contribute their fair share of funding to new incentives. As this year’s G7 Leader, Roundtable Participants called on Japan, especially, to meet its fair share of global funding (US$443 million per drug).
• It is estimated that the world needs at least six new antimicrobial innovations per decade to make serious progress to solve the AMR crisis. This will only be possible through further funding for “pull” incentives, which delink revenue from sales volume, making it possible for manufacturers to support continued antimicrobial innovation without needing to actively sell new antimicrobials.
• Antimicrobial incentives produce tremendous returns on investment for the societies that create them. Pull incentives will help countries around the world avoid serious economic and fiscal problems in the future due to AMR.

In December of 2022, Global Coalition on Aging and Global Heart Hub jointly convened a roundtable of global, multi-disciplinary experts from healthcare, patient advocacy, policy organizations, and the private sector to discuss the challenge of heart valve disease in the context of aging societies and their evolving needs.

This position paper, Heart Valve Disease: Harnessing Innovation to Save Lives, Mitigate Costs, and Advance the Healthy Aging Agenda, is the result of the roundtable discussion and consultation with additional global experts. These experts identified critical issues to address, as well as a need for greater urgency to ensure patients and families, health systems and societies reap the full benefits of innovation, requiring:

• greater awareness globally and across stakeholder disciplines.
• equitable access, reimbursement, and encouragement from health systems for the use of innovations
• the global recognition of heart valve disease as a central element of the Decade of Healthy Ageing.

In December 2022, the Global Coalition on Aging announced the release of its roundtable report, “AMR & Japan’s G7 Presidency: A Call for Pull Incentives to Drive Innovation.” The report is based on a small, private roundtable of leaders from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Sweden, alongside Japanese decision-makers and experts.

AMR is a crisis for all of society, but older adults are most at risk, making AMR a critical priority for super-aging Japan, where close to 40% of the population is over 60. Experts at the roundtable identified four critical actions that Japan must take to urgently address AMR as Japan assumes the 2023 G7 Presidency.

1. Implement a pilot pull incentive to stimulate antibiotic innovation based on best-fit model for Japan, building on the experiences provided by the UK subscription pilot and the U.S. PASTEUR Act.
2. Build policy guidance on AMR into the Health and Finance Ministers’ meetings and communiques.
3. Communicate the urgency for AMR policy action through Japan’s G7 Presidency at the Summit level, which will underscore the Health and Finance support for G7 AMR actions.
4. Invite collaboration and partnership with other countries, both those already leading on AMR action and those seeking inspiration and guidance.

In November 2022, the Global Coalition on Aging released its compendium, “Business Leadership in the Decade of Healthy Ageing: Compendium of Best Practices Across the Private Sector,” to highlight actions of the business community to advance the goals of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing. While conventional perspectives on aging tend to focus on rising costs and pressure on our healthcare system, innovation across a variety of sectors are helping to shift the role that our aging population plays across society. The report details nine key areas critical to the healthy aging initiative:

1. 1. Reframing Financial Wellbeing
   2. Workforce
   3. Care & Caregiving
   4. Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia
   5. Adult Immunization
   6. Bone Health
   7. Vision Health
   8. Education & Awareness
   9. Digital Health

The Compendium builds on the GCOA’s earlier report, “Decade of Healthy Ageing Demystified,” which aims to clarify the opportunities for the business community to engage in and help advance the goals of the Decade of Healthy Ageing. The report offers key questions and opportunities for business leaders to formulate and execute upon their aging strategies.  These are organized according to the Decade’s four core action areas:  combatting ageism, integrated care, age-friendly environments, and long-term care.

GCOA and Home Instead, the world’s largest home care network for older adults, published a global report on November 2, 2022, titled Key Insights & Proposed Solutions from the Future of Care and the Caregiving Workforce: Lessons and Insights from the COVID-19 Experience.

 The report, based on a workshop of more than 100 global leaders from over 20 OECD member states, spotlights the challenges facing the long-term care workforce, including insights from the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented demand brought by the aging demographic shift, and prevailing work conditions and perceptions.

The report suggests three top priorities to grow the care workforce to meet current and future care needs:

1. Elevate public perceptions of the care workforce;
2. Develop standards around training and quality; and
3. Improve the current realities for many care workers.

In October 2022, GCOA’s Bone Health Initiative (BHI) launched two white papers outlining key imperatives for advancing bone health in the Decade of Healthy Ageing.

More Than Just a Fracture: A Call to Action on Osteoporosis and Bone Health in the Context of Healthy Aging calls for a new approach to osteoporosis diagnosis and for the WHO to drive efforts to update the way in which fragility fractures are identified and therefore how osteoporosis is acted upon globally. In doing so, the WHO — with partners in the bone health and aging spaces — has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life for tens of millions of people worldwide as they age and reduce the soaring costs to health care systems through more effective attention to osteoporosis-related fragility fractures as an indicator of osteoporosis. The paper calls on the WHO to create a code in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD 11) for osteoporosis-related fragility fractures describing fractures related to deteriorated bone structure.

Healthy Bones for Healthy Aging: How the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) Model Can Leverage Bone Health to Improve Well-Being, Sustain Independence and Support Health Care Financing calls attention to the importance of integrated care for older people in relation to bone health. Integrating bone health into ICOPE can revolutionize how osteoporosis is treated regarding patient outcomes and health care savings. Doing so can also help ensure a person-centered approach to osteoporosis and help prevent millions of primary and secondary fragility fractures – adding healthy life years for every affected older person. The paper outlines that a new strategy to address osteoporosis and bone health through integrated care will help empower healthy and active aging.

Through communications, education, and advocacy, the BHI focuses on aligning policy change and healthcare practices in line with 21st-century healthy aging realities to ensure the highest quality of life possible for those with or at risk of osteoporosis and, at the same time, reduce the costly impact of osteoporosis and fragility fractures on our health systems.

On Thursday, September 29, 2022, Global Coalition on Aging, in partnership with GCOA Member Amgen, presented the Asia-Pacific Healthy Aging Summit: Advancing Disease Prediction and Prevention, which brought together leaders from the region with global leaders to find the policy solutions necessary for a healthier and more active aging across the region.

Speakers included Naoko Ueda of OECD, Roxana Widmer-Iliescu of ITU,  Alana Officer of WHO, and Ryoji Noritake of Health and Global Policy Institute among many other esteemed experts and thought leaders.

GCOA, in partnership with Renmin University, convened the first-ever China Healthy Aging Cities Forum, on July 28, 2022. The Forum highlighted positive policy actions in Beijing and other Chinese and global cities to support healthy aging, with adult immunization generally and COVID-19 vaccination success for older adults in particular as key examples.

The discussion, which brought together both Chinese and global experts, explored lessons learned from Beijing’s leadership and the changed landscape from Covid-19 vaccination and provided insights for a report on critical policy steps Beijing can take, what other Chinese cities can learn, and for application at the national level to enable healthier and more active aging, critical for a successful 21^st century economy and society.

The China Healthy Aging Cities Forum and Report build on the framework of the WHO Global Network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities and  momentum from the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, GCOA’s Silver Economy platform, and the China Development Forum interest in “Revitalizing Aging China.”

As our society ages, we need to ensure that older people are empowered to decide how they want to live, what they want to do, and what type of healthcare works best for their situation. Unfortunately, healthcare rationing by age, where patients are withheld access to treatments, is still one of the most widespread forms of ageism.

In September 2022, the Global Coalition on Aging and Nutricia presented a call to action to break with preconceived, ageist notions and lead to activities that empower individual healthcare engagement and decision-making regardless of age.

In September 2022, GCOA, Immunize Canada, and other leading organizations across Canada  partnered on a unique public education campaign highlighting the need and opportunity for Canada’s caregivers to protect themselves against influenza.

The campaign featured an infographic and sharable social media materials, in both English and French, providing usable data about influenza and immunization – including where, how, and why to get vaccinated – directly to Canada’s 8 million caregivers. The infographics can be downloaded in either English or French using the buttons below, and the social cards are available for download in English and in French at those links.

The education campaign materials were developed in consultation with more than a dozen organizations across Canada, from caregiver and patient organizations, to academic and research institutions and private sector experts.

In August 2022, Georgetown University’s AgingWell Hub released its the first No Normal Retirement Journey Map and Guide, a practical and interactive tool for re-imagining and charting paths to and through retirement. The Journey Map draws on the expertise of twenty-nine of the world’s leading experts on life in retirement – including GCOA CEO Mike Hodin and GCOA members Bank of America, Home Instead, and Transamerica – as well as a comprehensive review and integration of findings from more than 200 pieces of research on the evolving nature of retirement.

This new resource offers individuals tools to visualize and plan the various stages, events and decision points along the retirement journey, and the personal, emotional, and financial consequences of each. The Journey Map illustrates how six primary levers—health, finances, learning, purpose, community, and resilience—can be used to navigate the journey to a happy, financially secure and fulfilled life after a full-time career.

The Retirement Journey Map was developed by the Georgetown AgingWell Hub, designed by Human Spark, and commissioned through the support of the Alliance for Lifetime Income’s Retirement Income Institute.

In April of 2022, Global Coalition on Aging convened a cross-disciplinary and cross-sector group of global experts to consider public policy changes necessary for continued biomedical innovation that will enable 21^st century healthy longevity. The roundtable was convened by GCOA to take action in support of the global UN/WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing and in response to the proximate challenges to health and longevity highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This roundtable and report were made possible by support from GCOA member Eli Lilly & Company.

The roundtable identified five key principles to frame how today’s and tomorrow’s health value propositions should be judged and four calls-to-action which would transform how health innovation is recognized and rewarded in order to foster healthy aging in the 21^st century.

A June 2022 report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) in collaboration with Transamerica Institute finds that fewer than three in 10 workers (29 percent) believe they are saving enough for retirement. The report, Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Retirement Outlook of the Workforce, is part of TCRS’ 22nd Annual Retirement Survey, one of the largest and longest-running surveys of its kind. The new report examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the health and financial well-being and retirement outlook of the workforce. It highlights the urgent need to strengthen the U.S. retirement system and outlines recommendations for doing so.

The 22nd Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey polled a nationally representative sample of more than 10,000 people in late 2021. This report is based on 5,000+ people who self-identified as employed full-time or part-time by other, self-employed, or unemployed but looking for work.

In late 2021, GCOA convened a cross-sector group of Canadian and global experts and caregivers for a roundtable discussion to examine the critical importance of vaccinating Canada’s caregivers against influenza, current barriers, and opportunities for action to improve awareness and uptake of the vaccines. Following the roundtable, GCOA released a report, Tip of the Iceberg: Vaccinating Canadian Caregivers Against Influenza, which summarized the key insights and takeaways from the discussion.

The report included three broad calls to action for Canada:

• Collect evidence on the burden and cost of influenza on caregivers, the Canadian healthcare system and society and identify best practices that can reduce the burden.
• Expand access to vaccines, including where vaccines can be administered and by whom, engaging employers in this effort.
• Develop wide-reaching and targeted education materials in which caregivers can recognize themselves.

A new report by the Global Coalition on Aging, 21^st 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.”

For the third year in a row, GCOA partnered with ITU and the WSIS Forum to host the WSIS Forum Special Track on ICTs and Older Persons and again host the WSIS Healthy Ageing Innovation Prize in 2022. Throughout the first week of May, GCOA and WSIS organized a series of sessions examining the potential for digital technologies in an aging world, including how they can help combat age-based discrimination in the workplace, achieve healthier aging, build smarter cities, ensure the financial inclusion of older adults, and support millions of caregivers across the world and in digital inclusion across the generations to enable the Decade of Healthy Ageing. GCOA co-organized this special track in collaboration with stakeholders including Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development (CSEND), E-Seniors, UN Agencies -ITU, WHO, UN DESA, and others.

The WSIS Healthy Ageing Innovation Prize recognizes and award the best digital technologies that support healthy and active aging for adults age 60+ in one of five categories:

• • Alzheimer’s and Cognitive Decline
  • Frailty
  • Immunizations
  • Transportation and Mobility
  • Elder Caregiving

The winner, HiNouNou, and 11 finalists were selected by a panel of international judges and announced the first week of June 2022. The winner and finalists receive a cash prize as well as recognition at the WSIS Forum.

Click here to see descriptions and watch video from each of the sessions ICTs and Older Persons track.

Watch Mike Hodin’s interview below on the significance of the WSIS Special Track on ICTs and Older Person in today’s world: