Add health to life

1

It is expected that at
some point during the 21st century there will be more older people
than children in the world. Whilst our life expectancy has improved, the
wellbeing of older people and society’s attitude to the elderly are not
necessarily following suit. World Health Day,
7th April, focuses on improving the health of older people to enable
them to live more fulfilling lives and keep them part of the community. ‘Add
health to life’ is the slogan that the World
Health Organisation
(WHO) is using as part of this year’s campaign.

Research on ageing and effective healthcare
systems for the elderly are essential to ensure that we can cope with an
increasingly ageing population. BioMed Central has three long established
journals publishing research on the clinical and biological aspects of ageing:

  • Immunity and Ageing
    publishes popular
    and innovative articles on the biology of ageing. The journal will shortly
    be publishing a series on centenarians. The genetic and environmental
    factors influencing the probability of becoming a centenarian will be
    explored in the series. The series will also include case studies of
    centenarians.
  • BMC Geriatrics
    publishes articles on diseases often affecting the elderly and the
    health care available to older people all over the world. This also
    includes non-standard health interventions. For example, Laver et al.
    evaluated the usefulness of Nintendo Wii Fit as a therapeutic tool for the elderly – they tend
    to prefer more traditional therapy.
  • Many
    diseases associated with ageing, such as Alzheimer’s, are not curable and patients require palliative care. This is addressed in BMC Palliative Care.

By changing social attitudes
to the elderly, and enabling them to engage more within the community, it is
hoped that the health and wellbeing of the elderly will improve – adding health
to their lives.   

Srimathy Sriskantharajah

Senior Journal Development Editor

Liz Bal

Associate Publisher at BioMed Central
Liz completed an MSci in Biology at Imperial College London, before joining BioMed Central in 2010. Now, as an Associate Publisher in the Biological Sciences team, she is responsible for the development of a portfolio of neuroscience, biotechnology and cell biology journals.
Liz Bal

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