Ohana Salutes the Release of the WHO iCOPE Tool
7 October 2019 (Geneva)
Ohana today salutes the World Health Organization on the release of its digital application to help health and social workers provide better care for older people.
Worldwide one billion people will be aged 60 or older by 2020. By 2050 one in five people will be over 60, more than two billion people. The number of people aged over 80 is projected to triple from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050.
While every older person is different, both physical and mental capacity tend to decline with increasing age. As intrinsic capacity diminishes, older adults need increasing levels of support and care to maintain their independence. This latest resource, the WHO ICOPE Handbook App, is a welcome addition to the tools that can be used to help older adults age successfully and live their best life.
As described by the World Health Organization, the WHO ICOPE Handbook App is an interactive digital application that provides practical guidance to address priority conditions including mobility limitations, malnutrition, vision and hearing loss, cognitive decline, depressive symptoms and social care and support. This App is the first integrated tool that caregivers can use to understand an older adult’s priorities and concerns with respect to their health and wellbeing and then develop integrated care plan to address them by leveraging local resources.
Ohana interactive training and educational curriculum is well aligned with the iCOPE framework and is designed with a person-centric prospective to empower caregivers to help older adults to age with dignity. According to the WHO, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals will only be achievable if it is inclusive of people of all ages. Empowering older people by safeguarding their health and well-being enables their full participation and social inclusion are good ways to reduce inequalities.
About Ohana
Ohana helps family members, paid care workers and others learn how to care with confidence. Ohana's certification program can help anyone seeking to become qualified as a paid care worker, one of the 21st century's fastest growing vocations. Ohana partners with care providers to help train and accredit their staff and then offers continuing education to help them remain current with the latest advancements in caregiving. For more information please visit ohana.health.
Ohana Recognizes the Importance of Caregiving for the 21st Century
2 September 2019 (Geneva)
Ohana today recognized the growing realization of the importance of caregiving as one of the fastest growing vocations for the 21st century.
Worldwide one billion people will be aged 60 or older by 2020. By 2050 one in five people will be over 60, more than two billion people. The number of people aged over 80 is projected to triple from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050. While every older person is different, both physical and mental capacity tend to decline with increasing age. As intrinsic capacity diminishes, older adults need increasing levels of support and care to maintain their independence. Caregivers are one of the best ways that we can support these needs and represents one of the fastest growing vocations for the 21st century.
“Among society’s most pressing questions with the aging of the population is who will help growing numbers of frail elderly with routine tasks at home, such as bathing and dressing and cooking. Families often take on these caregiving responsibilities, but the job isn’t practical for many working boomers and Gen Xers, families with far-flung children, widows and widowers and the childless elderly. That's why the need is so great for professional home care workers,” as originally reported in Forbes magazine (18 April 2018).
According to the U.S.-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research, paid adult care work jobs are expected to increase substantially in the coming years, due to both an aging population and a comparatively low risk of automation for many of these jobs. Improving the quality of paid adult care work jobs is essential to ensuring high quality care and promoting the economic security and well-being of care workers, who are predominantly women (23 September 2019).
According to the UNFPA, the number of older people in the Asia-Pacific region is rising at an unprecedented rate and it is at the forefront of the global phenomenon of population ageing. The population of older persons (aged over 60) in the region will triple between 2010 and 2050, reaching close to 1.3 billion people. While there is still a strong tradition of family and community support for older persons in Asia, changing family structures combined with migration are resulting in the gradual weakening of informal support systems. Yet most countries’ healthcare and social support systems have limited capacity to meet older adults’ the need for care services.
Ohana interactive training and educational curriculum is designed with a person-centric prospective to empower caregivers to help older adults to age with dignity. According to the World Health Organization, the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals will only be achievable if it is inclusive of people of all ages. Empowering older people by safeguarding their health and well-being enables their full participation and social inclusion are good ways to reduce inequalities.
About Ohana
Ohana helps family members, paid care workers and others learn how to care with confidence. Ohana's certification program can help anyone seeking to become qualified as a paid care worker, one of the 21st century's fastest growing vocations. Ohana partners with care providers to help train and accredit their staff and then offers continuing education to help them remain current with the latest advancements in caregiving. For more information please visit ohana.health.
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