Toward Healthy Aging: Emerging Geriatric Health Care Issues in India

Abstract

Population aging is likely to become a global concern as the proportion of the older population is rapidly increasing. With decreasing fertility rate and increasing life expectancy, India is considered to be an “aging nation” with 8.6% of aging population (aged 60 years and above) as per 2011 Census. It is generally considered that older people are more predisposed to various physical and psychological morbidities, due to declining of physical and mental health in old age. In addition to that, they also face different socioeconomic barriers in their later life. The older population is confronted with multifaceted challenges ranging from social security coverage to increasing health care need. In the last few decades in India, many policies and programs are targeted toward geriatric care. But we still have insufficient number of geriatric health clinics as well as care givers to take care of the older people. In the contemporary scenario, elderly care is a critical issue in public health care system. Keeping this in view, the present paper highlights the health challenges among older people across the globe as well as in India. Subsequently, the paper focuses on the concerns for geriatric care and need for relevant policies to improve the quality of life of older people in the Indian context.