At the beginning of this month WHO ICOPE was launched. Coinciding with International Day of Old Persons, the World Health Organization (WHO) made their new program available to assist the elderly.
The WHO ICOPE Handbook App is a complete set of digital apps and tools that can be used by social workers and health care employees to assist them in providing enhanced care for the elderly population with whom they are working.
Practical guidance is offered on the app for chronic conditions. This includes: nutrition, vision, hearing, cognitive, mobility, mental health issues and social support. It is also hoped that it will lead to the advancement of training for those in the industry so that they are more equipped to deal with the range of needs of seniors. According to WHO’s director of the department of Maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health and ageing, Dr. Anshu Banerjee:
“It is essential that services for older people are included in universal health care packages. At the same time there needs to be good coordination between the health and social services to provide optimal care when needed. The new package of tools supports healthy ageing with a person-centred and coordinated model of care.”
The complete package took two years to build, based on extensive consultations with experts in the field, representatives of civil society and stakeholders.
