Health of elderly people

Health of Elderly People

10 AUG 2018

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had undertaken a Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) under the tertiary level activities of National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) to assess the health status of the elderly and to provide comprehensive longitudinal evidence base on health, economic, social and overall well-being of people aged 45 years and above in India. International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, Deemed University, has been appointed as a National Nodal Agency for conducting the LASI survey in the country.  The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Southern California (USC) are the collaborating institutions for providing technical support for the LASI.

The main goal of LASI project is to collect credible scientific data on burden of disease, mental health, functional health, health care and social and economic well being of elderly population. The data is being collected based on internationally comparable research design, tools and adopting cutting edge scientific methods to provide the foundation for credible and acceptable data – for National and State level policy making and long- term scientific research. LASI project will provide data on demographics, household economic status, health and bio-markers, health insurance and health care utilization, family and social network, social welfare programmes, work and employment, retirement and pension, life satisfaction and expectations.

LASI wave-1 data collection has been completed in 16 States selected in phase-1 of the study. Factsheets of key indicators on health, social and economic wellbeing of elderly have been prepared for these 16 States.

Data collection is in progress for the remaining 20 States/UTs  in phase-2, wave-1. The factsheets of key indicators for these 20 phase-2 states/UTs is expected to be released in February 2019. The factsheets, national and state reports will include detailed data and analysis of health issues, economic and social wellbeing of elderly population in India and states.

These reports will be used for developing comprehensive national and state level health policies and programmes for elderly population in India.

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.

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