Ageing and Health Unit
We organize our work according to the 5 strategic priority areas identified in the Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health 2016-2020.
Integrated care for older people (ICOPE)
Numerous physiological changes occur with increasing age, and for older people the risks of experiencing declines in physical and mental capacities increase.
These declines often progress and manifest themselves as visual impairment, hearing loss, cognitive decline, malnutrition, mobility loss, depressive symptoms, urinary incontinence and falls.
ICOPE reflects a continuum of care that will help to reorient health and social services towards a more person-centred and coordinated model of care.
WHO Guidelines to support healthy ageing
Guidelines on community-level interventions to manage declines in intrinsic capacity
Many community health and care workers need support on how to best assess older people’s health and effectively address their needs. The ICOPE Guidelines provide recommendations based on the best available evidence on what works to prevent, slow, or reverse declines in the physical and mental capacities of older people.
Guideline for non-surgical management of chronic primary low back pain in adults in primary and community care settings
This guideline is to provide evidence-based recommendations on nonsurgical interventions for chronic primary low back pain (CPLBP) in adults, including older people, that can be delivered in primary and community care settings to improve CPLBP-related health and well-being outcomes.
ICOPE Handbook App
The ICOPE Handbook App helps implement ICOPE in community and primary care settings by providing an interactive step-by-step approach to the Handbook. The App also generates a printable summary of the resulting assessments, interventions, and care plan.
ICOPE implementation resources
ICOPE Handbook
The ICOPE Handbook helps community health and care workers put the recommendations outlined in the ICOPE Guidelines into practice. It describes practical care pathways which can be followed to detect declines in intrinsic capacity and develop a personalised care plan.
ICOPE Implementation Framework
The ICOPE Implementation Framework provides guidance for policy makers and programme managers to concretely assess and measure the capacity of services and systems to deliver integrated care at the community level.
It provides a score card to help assess the overall capacity of health and social care services and systems to deliver integrated care in community settings and support the development of ICOPE implementation action plans.
Pinetree Care Group
An integrated care manager/rehabilitation therapist coaching an ICOPE pilot participant to complete daily physical exercises at his home in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.
An integrated care manager/rehabilitation therapist coaching an ICOPE pilot participant to complete daily physical exercises at his home in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.
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Credits
Self-care and self-management
The WHO Mobile Health for Ageing (mAgeing) handbook
An integrated care system for older people means that older adults get the health care they need - where and when they need it. The WHO Mobile Health for Ageing (mAgeing) Handbook helps countries develop a programme for delivering health information, advice, and reminders based on the ICOPE Guidelines through basic technology common to most mobile phones.
Indicators related to WHO's ICOPE approach
Monitoring and scaling up effective interventions are crucial to reverse or delay the onset of the changes that may occur with increasing age.
The data portal provides data on indicators related to WHO’s Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) approach, such as Mean Body Mass Index, Prevalence of hearing impairments, vision impairments, anemia in older people, Incidence rate of falls and suicide mortality rate.
Related links on Healthy ageing
Resources
30 April 2021
Decade of healthy ageing: baseline report - summary
The Baseline Report for the Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021−2030 addresses five issues:Introduces Healthy Ageing, the Decade’s actions...
14 January 2021
Decade of healthy ageing: baseline report
The Global Strategy on Ageing and Health and its first action plan 2016−2020, mandate WHO to produce a baseline report in 2020 for the Decade...
29 September 2015
World report on ageing and health
Comprehensive public health action on population ageing is urgently needed. This will require fundamental shifts, not just in the things we do, but in...
Journal articles
Implementing care for healthy ageing
BMJ Global Health 2022;7:e007778
Elements of integrated care approaches for older people: a review of reviews
BMJ Open 2018;8:e021194
Actions required to implement integrated care for older people in the community using the World Health Organization's ICOPE approach: A global Delphi consensus study
PLoS ONE 13(10): e0205533
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