Building systems that do not decline

Wow, we did it. After four months of intense preparations, the meeting on “building systems to address functional decline and dependence in ageing populations” has taken place. We had participants from over 30 countries. Big ones like China, India and United States and smaller exotic ones like Bhutan and Myanmar. There were representatives from WHO, OECD, EC, World Bank and various other international organisations.

What did we do? Well there were few powerpoint speeches. There are already too many meetings where people have to sit and look to an endless list of slides. So we have mainly used working sessions to fully use the expertise of the many people who work daily in elderly care, or who are involved in research in palliative care, dementia care and long term care. The few presentations we had were on care in lower income countries, on the examples of Japan and Finland and on the Interrai assessment system. We also had a very animated high level session on sustainability of long term care with a.o. deputy SG Yves Leterme from the OECD and state secretary Martin van Rijn from the Netherlands.

What did we achieve? Our plan was that in the working sessions we would identify gaps by subtracting the real situation from the ideal situation. What is the ideal model to deliver care to older people and how is it organised in reality? And next to discuss what should be done to bridge the difference. In an outcome document that we still have to finalise, we will elaborate on that and identify who is best placed to take up the different actions identified.

How we will continue? We are not ready yet and I expect the outcome document will be released somewhere in the coming two months. But we also want to foster the network we have created. It is quite exceptional to have so many international organisations actively involved in pursuing the same goal. Just like older people and systems, also our network should not decline.

This is just a first summary of the meeting. I will still be employed at WHO for the two next months for the report and follow up. Hopefully I will not decline after the meeting. After all, I am also a system, a biological one.