Iran is aging rapidly and is expected to see negative population growth rates later this century. This change is generating significant concern for policymakers, whose response is to seek ...‘demographic solutions’ to these issues: raise the fertility rate, decrease the divorce rate, and promote marriage among young people. Part of these policies has entailed curtailing access to free family planning services. This ‘call and response’ approach is unlikely to succeed in its stated aim, as it over-simplifies the real challenges of population aging as well as the multiple dimensions of population change. Such policies derive from simple representations of demographic change, most notably using the old-age dependency ratio. Using a microsimulation model, this paper suggests that increasing Iran’s currently low female labor force participation and translating educational gains into rising productivity is a more effective means of responding to the challenges of population aging, even under low fertility conditions. The advancement on previous such microsimulation exercises lies in the fact that this study explicitly considers the comparison between raising fertility and increasing female economic empowerment to offset population aging in a setting characterized by an overt pronatalist policy system. In tandem with reforming stressed institutional systems (such as the pension system), releasing the full potential of Iran’s existing (and future) human capital—especially of its women—is a far more effective policy direction than fertility-promoting policies.
Despite the rapidly ageing population and a predicted sevenfold increase in the prevalence of dementia in minority ethnic communities, people from these communities remain under‐represented in ...specialist dementia services. Leventhal's Model of Self‐Regulation suggests perceptions of illness facilitate help‐seeking behaviours such as the use of services. This scoping exercise makes use of the model to explore perceptions of dementia in British Indian, African and Caribbean, and East and Central European communities in the United Kingdom. Between August 2013 and April 2014, culturally specific dementia awareness roadshows were attended by people living with dementia, carers and members of the public. During the roadshows, 62 British Indian, 50 African and Caribbean, and 63 East and Central European attenders participated in discussion groups and a dementia knowledge quiz. Thematic and framework analysis were conducted on the discussion group data. Three main themes are presented: Perceptions of dementia, awareness of dementia in the wider family and community, and awareness and use of services. The findings suggest that although groups attributed a biological basis for memory loss, a number of misconceptions prevailed regarding the cause of dementia. Groups also made use of religion, as opposed to medical healthcare services, as a form of personal and treatment control. Seeking help from healthcare services was hindered by lack of awareness of services, and culturally specific barriers such as language. The findings have a number of implications for policy and practice including the development of public health interventions and the need to focus further on reducing barriers to accessing services.
This paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on how neighborhood amenities such as parks relate with active ageing. It draws attention to this relationship in the context of developing ...country - India where with changing demographics, population ageing is emerging as a major challenge. It builds on empirical evidences from a neighborhood park in the city of Pune - a metropolis of 3.5 million people in western India. Employing a mixed research approach, the paper explains how a neighborhood park plays a significant role in promoting healthy living among older persons by offering various perceived health benefits. Although various physical characteristics of park encourage physical activities, it is found that social connections such as groups formed in the park encourage regular participation in physical activities and thereby provide psychological health benefits and social support for older users. The paper argues for considering the important role of parks in fostering social participation critical for active ageing while designing cities that are friendly and supportive to ageing populations.
•Parks help in active ageing by offering physical, mental and social benefits•In neighborhood parks, older persons are dominant and regular users with women outnumbering men•Older persons use parks differently at different times of the day and prefer absence of noisy activites•Park use facilitates social participation at various levels leading to perceived health benefits•Social interaction in parks follows existing groupings amongst people of same age, gender and status
This study presents an overlapping generations model to analyze the impact of population aging on fiscal policy and intergenerational fiscal burden. Aging populations incentivize governments to ...increase capital and labor income tax rates and the public debt‐to‐GDP ratio, consistent with OECD evidence. Our model‐based simulation for Japan and the United States (2000–2070) reveals that Japan will experience higher labor income tax rates, a greater public debt‐to‐GDP ratio, and a lower government expenditure‐to‐GDP ratio compared to the United States. From 2040 onward, Japan is predicted to surpass the United States in terms of the capital tax rate.
Two important changes are happening in health care in the US. As hospitals close in high numbers, the geographies of health care services are changing. Also, the ageing of the population brings about ...new and complex care needs. These are not discrete trends, as ageing impacts the who, what, and where of care needs, and hospital closures remakes the geographies of where people overall access care. Developed out of research on the impacts of hospital restructuring on workers, patients, and communities, this paper aims to understand how health care financing, care needs for the ageing, and new geographies of health services are intertwined. To do so, I look back to 1980s policy changes to Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. In 1982, Congress made two important changes to Medicare. The program began covering hospice services, constituting an expansion of care, and the government drastically changed the way it reimburses providers, effectively a contraction of the program. I trace the impacts of these changes over the next decades through analysis of media coverage and secondary research on hospital budgets. Drawing on the concept of palliative space-time, I identify a contradictory logic of death at the center of this expansion and contraction of the health care system. This death logic works to destabilize an already uneven geography of health service. Yet, this crisis has the potential for more just geographies of health and care.
•US population ageing poses new challenges for caring for people as they age.•Hospital closures across the US alter how and where people receive care.•Palliative Space-time shows systems that struggle to exist but have radical potential.•Palliative Space-time helps analyse health systems, death, and care.
Molecular factors involved in neuroprotection are key in the design of novelmultitarget drugs in aging and neurodegeneration. AVCRI104P3 is a huprine derivative that exhibits potent inhibitory ...effects on human AChE, BuChE, and BACE-1 activities, as well as on AChE-induced and self-induced Abeta aggregation. More recently, cognitive protection and anxiolytic-like effects have also been reported in mice treated with this compound. Now, we have assessed the ability of AVCRI104P3 (0.43 mg/kg, 21 days) to modulate the levels of some proteins involved in the anti-apoptotic/apoptotic processes (pAkt1, Bcl2, pGSK3beta, p25/p35), inflammation (GFAP and Iba1) and neurogenesis in C57BL/6 mice. The effects of AVCRI104P3 on AChE-R/AChE-S isoforms have been also determined. We have observed that chronic treatment of C57BL/6 male mice with AVCRI104P3 results in neuroprotective effects, increasing significantly the levels of pAkt1 and pGSK3beta in the hippocampus and Bcl2 in both hippocampus and cortex, but slightly decreasing synaptophysin levels. Astrogliosis and neurogenic markers GFAP and DCX remained unchanged after AVCRI104P3 treatment, whereas microgliosis was found to be significantly decreased pointing out the involvement of this compound in inflammatory processes. These results suggest that the neuroprotective mechanisms that are behind the cognitive and anxiolytic effects of AVCRI104P3 could be partly related to the potentiation of some anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory proteins and support the potential of AVCRI104P3 for the treatment of brain dysfunction associated with aging and/or dementia
Thailand’s aging population has impacted its labor force. This study examines additional health capacity to work (AHCW) with established methods. Data were obtained from the mortality registry as ...well as national health, aging, labor force, and welfare surveys. Utilizing the Milligan–Wise method, the estimated AHCW for those aged 50–69 was 1.3 years (an 8.7% increase) for males and 1.9 years (17.8%) for females, based on the 2005 employment–mortality relationship. With the Cutler–Meara–Richards-Shubik method, the estimated AHCW for those aged 60–69 in 2015 ranged from 0.9 years (13.6%) to 2.0 years (31.3%) for males and from 1.2 years (23.2%) to 1.5 years (29.6%) for females. We also found that older informal workers in Thailand need to work to maintain their standards of living due to limited retirement benefits. Effective policy measures should be implemented to protect informal workers’ health, prevent pensioners from being impoverished, facilitate a more flexible working environment, and help workers maintain skills and job competencies.
As population aging continues to become a major demographic trend globally, it is essential to examine the demographic shifts at the micro-level to understand the changing scenario of older ...populations. A lack of adequate data in India on older populations is a hindrance to the government's efforts to provide social security for them. This study uses gridded population data to analyze the spatial patterns, micro-level trends, and the share of older populations in India for 2030 and 2040. The study's findings demonstrate that India has seen a dramatic shift in population aging trends, with large intra-state variability. The micro-level analysis shows that certain districts have a higher percentage of older people. Further, the share of older populations is predicted to rise considerably over the next two decades. The results highlight the need to shift from national and state-level policies to a more localized approach. The findings provide a comprehensive analysis of population aging at the micro-level in India and highlight the need for targeted policies and programs to ensure the well-being of older populations. The results of this study can inform policymakers in their efforts to provide social security for older people and improve their quality of life.
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