The World Health Organisation (WHO) is being accused of institutional ageism by academics, who say older people and dementia have been left out of its work programme for the next five years.

In a letter published in the Lancet medical journal, the academics say WHO is “washing its hands” of older people. “This is entirely unacceptable. If the proposed programme is approved, it will considerably diminish WHO’s global authority and will brand it as a champion of age discrimination,” says the letter from experts on ageing from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“We therefore urge that WHO rectify this striking oversight and that the proposed programme include substantial plans relating to the health of older people and challenges of population ageing.”

Peter Lloyd-Sherlock, professor of social policy and international development at UEA’s School of International Development, said the work programme was the most important document the WHO publishes, since it sets out the funding priorities for years to come.

“WHO has a new director general and this … represents him seeking to set his own stamp on the organisation. The lack of reference to older people or conditions like dementia is therefore very worrying and surprising,” he said.

The letter points out that 12% of the world’s population is over the age of 60. By 2030, that will have risen to 16.5%. Even in the less developed regions where life expectancy is often lower, 10% of the population will be over 60 by 2030.

While older people have more illnesses and are greater users of health services, they also play important roles in society, caring for grandchildren and other adults with disabilities, the letter says.

“This is part of a wider pattern of explicit discrimination against older people in global health policy,” said Lloyd-Sherlock. He added that the WHO had recently published a major document on tackling non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and stroke, but the focus was entirely on the under-70s. WHO was encouraging countries to cut “premature mortality” – defined as under the age of 70 – by 25%. This would shift spending away from older people.



A WHO spokesperson said the work programme referred to was an old draft and that it had recently “acknowledged the importance of ageing as the top ‘issue heard’ and publicly stated our commitment to implement WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health.” A new version of the work programme was due within days, he said.