Interventions for older people in sub-Saharan Africa

2015年至2050年期间，撒哈拉以南非洲地区60岁及以上人口预计将增长约四倍，达到1.6亿以上。迄今为止，国际发展的重点一直集中在年龄较小的人身上。现在迫切需要应对这一新的挑战。不应假定在世界其他区域证明有效的老年人政策也适用于撒哈拉以南非洲。目前关于该地区“什么对老年人有效”的知识非常有限。我们计划通过研究加纳和南非这两个完全不同的国家对老年人的三种不同政策（慢性健康状况筛查、提供基本养老金和扩大健康保险覆盖范围）的影响来解决这一知识差距。我们计划利用允许长期分析的调查数据，评估这些政策对老年人健康和福祉的不同方面的影响。我们将特别关注高血压和抑郁症，因为这些疾病与老年人的总体健康和生活质量密切相关。我们不会自行收集资料，而是会利用多项现有的调查。基于我们在之前的研究中产生的见解，我们将：1)检查并寻求解释加纳和南非老年人高血压的变化模式。高血压是这一群体中死亡和严重疾病的主要原因：了解这些模式将有助于制定更适当的政策对策。我们会看看谁有高血压，谁知道自己有高血压，谁在有效地控制它。2)评估南非高血压筛查对老年人对该病的认识、治疗和控制的影响。3)评估加纳不断扩大的国家健康保险计划对老年人健康和福祉（包括高血压和抑郁症）的影响。4)评估南非老年补助金对老年人健康和福祉的影响，特别关注抑郁症和死亡风险。我们的总体目标是产生有价值的研究见解，并确保这些见解有效地传达给适当的决策者。因此，该项目的很大一部分内容将涉及与全球、区域和国家主要决策者的接触，包括研讨会、简报和通过社交媒体的互动。

Between 2015 and 2050 the number of people aged 60 or more in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to roughly quadruple, reaching over 160 million. Hitherto, international development priorities have focussed on people at younger ages. There is now an urgent need to address this new challenge. It should not be assumed that policies for older people that proved effective in other world regions will be suited to sub-Saharan Africa. Current knowledge about "what works for older people" in the region is very limited.We plan to address this knowledge gap by looking at the effects of three different policies for older people (screening for chronic health conditions, providing basic pensions and extending health insurance coverage) in two quite different countries: Ghana and South Africa. Using survey data that permit analysis over time, we plan to assess impacts of these policies on different aspects of older people's health and well-being. We will pay particular attention to high blood pressure (hypertension) and depression, as these conditions are closely linked to older people's general health and quality of life. Rather than collect our own information, we will make use of a number of existing surveys.Building on insights we generated in a previous study, we will:1) Examine and seek to explain changing patterns of hypertension among older people in Ghana and South Africa. Hypertension is the leading cause of death and serious illness among this group: understanding these patterns will support the development of more appropriate policy responses. We will look at who has hypertension, who is aware they have the condition and who is effectively managing it.2) Assess the impact of screening for hypertension in South Africa on older people's awareness, treatment and control of the condition.3) Assess the impact of Ghana's expanding national health insurance scheme on older people's health and wellbeing, including hypertension and depression.4) Assess the impact of South Africa's old age grant on the health and wellbeing of older people, with a particular focus on depression and risk of death. Our overall aims are to generate valuable research insights and to ensure these are effectively communicated to appropriate policy-makers. As such, a large part of the project will involve engaging with key global, regional and national policy-makers, including workshops, briefing papers and interaction through social media.