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 of Healthy Ageing. A preliminary report was presented to the World Health Assembly in May 2020. The strategy’s new action plan, the Decade, also calls for WHO and UN partners to produce status reports at baseline and confirms WHO’s mandate to track progress during 2021−2030. This report is the baseline from WHO’s perspective. This mandate recognizes that what is measured drives action. Action needs to be informed by evidence and aligned with older persons’ expectations and the priorities that are negotiated with stakeholders and resourced by decision-makers.

The Baseline Report for the Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021−2030 addresses five issues:

1. Introduces Healthy Ageing, the Decade’s actions and enablers, and a pathway to accelerate impact by 2030.

2. Where are we in 2020? The report provides a first-time baseline for healthy ageing worldwide.

3. What improvements could we expect by 2030? It documents progress and scenarios for improvement.

4. How can we accelerate impact on the lives of older people? It shows how older people and stakeholders can together optimize functional ability.

5. The next steps including opportunities to boost collaboration and impact by 2023, the next reporting period.