Global Perspectives on Healthy Ageing (GPHA)

Project owner

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Project categories

Applied Research

Project period

March 2023 - July 2028

Project summary

The aim of the Global Perspectives on Healthy Ageing (GPHA) project is to involve master students at Master in healthy ageing and rehabilitation and faculty in section in global health and rehabilitation at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in country-specific investigations (termed cases) where various resources and challenges related to healthy ageing in a selection of countries worldwide will be assessed. Both MARE-students and MARE-faculty are invited to conduct data collection in their country of origin.  The various country cases will ultimately be combined in a cross-country case-series. The project starts April 2023 and ends July 2028.

In 2020 the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the decade 2021-2030 as the UN Decade of healthy ageing. According to the World Health Organization, healthy ageing is “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age”. According to WHO healthy ageing can be reality for all and no older person shall be left behind. The goal of the Decade is to optimise older people`s functional ability.

As stated by WHO the number of people aged 60 years and older will be 34% higher in 2030 and increase from 1 billion in 2019 to 1.4 billion in 2050. Many older persons, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, lack access to necessary resources for living meaningful and dignified lives and face various barriers inhibiting their full participation in society. Hence, there is a need to investigate the extent to which communities are good places to grow old, and whether they have enough resources to be helpful to older adults.

Important variation in the perception on the meaning of healthy ageing, and how to achieve healthy ageing, exists across different stakeholder groups and different settings. There is also great variation with regards to existence of non-ageist attitudes, age-friendly environment, person-centred integrated care and long-term care services. As a result, in this comparative study, we shall explore the perspectives of healthy ageing among different stakeholder groups ranging from older persons, health and social providers, and policy makers; and in different global settings, ranging from high-, upper middle, middle- and low-income communities. 

The GPHA-project will apply a mixed method approach to addressing the research aims. The methodological approach will be a case study research design, wherein primary qualitative data will be collected in the form of key informant interviews and focus groups, and where secondary data might be collected through existing registry/survey data on older adults and by analysing documents.