Conclusion

Now that you have studied this free course, Population ageing: a global health crisis?, you will understand some of the key issues in the debates about whether population ageing is a global health crisis or not.

You have seen that population ageing means that the percentage of older persons in the population is increasing, and while this is a global phenomenon, the percentage of older people is much higher in more developed countries than it is in less developed countries.

Population ageing: a global health crisis? has introduced you to the three core components of global health:

• shared health concerns
• global determinants of health
• global cooperation.

Importantly too, you will have engaged with the argument about whether population ageing is a global health success or not. Integral to this debate are the challenges population ageing pose for global health, not least in terms of how these challenges are shaped by global forces beyond the control of nation states. Last but not least, you will have a sense of the nature and extent of the global cooperation required in addressing these challenges.

Population ageing and global health are constantly in the news. Don’t stop at this point – use your new understanding to develop your knowledge of the issues we have introduced you to in this course!

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course K242 Ageing societies and global health [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .