The aim of the meeting is to provide examples of good practice and share experiences, which should help to improve the provision of appropriate healthcare to elderly persons, to offer suggestions for future activities, interventions and tasks, both for particular professions and for multidisciplinary teams, and to implement some aspects of healthy ageing in all EU member states' policies, the Ministry of Health announced.
Owing to the better standard of living and improvements in healthcare, and along with the decreasing birth rates, the developed European countries note an increase in life expectancy, which means a higher proportion of elderly persons in the general population.
The number of people above 65 years of age is continually and rapidly growing, not only in the more economically developed countries, but also in developing countries. With the extension of life expectancy, and a larger proportion of elderly people, the incidence of systemic diseases is increasing. Consequently, the whole social system should be organised according to the psychophysical abilities of the elderly.
In the course of the two-day meeting, the participants will talk about the importance of prevention and early detection of malignant diseases, Alzheimer disease and other dementias, and the strengthening of the roles of general practitioners and home health nurses.