Globe watch

In this story:

• Asia: Australian lessons for Asia
• UK: Global dementia commitment welcomed
• Africa: Palliative care and human rights
• US: Safely behind the wheel

Asia: Australian lessons for Asia

Large parts of Asia could benefit from learning more about the size and structure of Australia’s retirement income system which aims to encourage a self-funded retirement for a growing and ageing population.

That’s according to the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) at the Australian School of Business. In part two of its three-part Asia in the Ageing Century report, the centre identified the provision of retirement income to a rapidly ageing population across much of East and South-East Asia as both a challenge and an opportunity.

CEPAR senior research fellow and co-author of the latest report, Rafal Chomik said that the ageing of the Asian population was happening much faster than in Western countries but the development of a retirement income system was in many ways still deficient compared with the West. At the same time, there was a weakening of family networks, which had traditionally provided support.

“Given the significant social and demographic shifts taking place in the region, getting a retirement income system right could result in favourable macro-economic rebalancing of growth – where individuals can pool risks rather than save excessive precautionary amounts themselves,” he said.

UK: Global dementia commitment welcomed

The G8 nations have committed to developing a cure or treatment for dementia by 2025. At last week’s G8 dementia summit in London, international health ministers said it was a “big ambition” and they would increase funding for research to meet it.

As the BBC reports, the G8 said it would “develop a co-ordinated international research action plan” to target the gaps in research and ways to address them.

It followed an international call, featuring Australian researchers, for the G8 to increase efforts to support dementia research.

Alzheimer’s Australia welcomed the announcement. CEO of Alzheimer’s Australia Glenn Rees said the decision to elevate dementia to the same level of priority internationally as chronic diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS, and to commit to a combined global effort to increase dementia research funding to find a cure for dementia, was ambitious but necessary.

“Around the world dementia research is underfunded – often only 15 per cent of the research funding that is devoted to cancer. We need more research into the causes of dementia to ultimately find a cure,” Mr Rees said.

The global effort to increase dementia research funding also provided an opportunity to increase dementia awareness worldwide. “There is the potential to reduce the stigma and social isolation that people with dementia experience around the world through the implementation of dementia-friendly communities,” Mr Rees said.

Africa: Palliative care and human rights

There is now a clear legal, moral and practical precedent established that shows that palliative care is a basic human right. However, millions of people around the world are suffering from excruciating but ultimately preventable and manageable pain because states have not set up systems that meet their basic right to palliative care, according to Steve Hynd from the African Palliative Care Association.

Writing in ehospice for World Human Rights Day, Hynd says that human rights and palliative care are in many ways “natural partners.”

“Both are based around the dignity of the individual being applied universally and without discrimination. But they also overlap. Not only is palliative care a human right in itself, it also allows for the fulfillment of other rights.”

Hynd says there is now a clear legal, moral and practical precedent that shows that palliative care is a basic human right. It is also clear that this problem is a global problem. “The only way to tackle this global problem is to ensure that palliative care is integrated into existing health systems and human rights mechanisms,” he says.

US: Safely behind the wheel

Mirroring a recurring debate in Australia, policy and law makers in the US are considering how best to enable older drivers to extend their driving abilities safely for as long as possible.

As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its five-year safety plan for older drivers which it released this month, the effort involves both behavioral and technological changes, according to the New York Times.

In the US, about 35 million licensed drivers are over 65, an increase of 20 per cent since 2003. Currently just one state, Illinois, requires a road test for elderly drivers, while many require people 70 and older to renew driver’s licenses in person, while others require more frequent renewals or written or vision tests as drivers get older.