Our expert answers 3 Questions
I am thinking about how rapid population aging on a global scale is changing priorities for health, economic, and social policy. Population aging has far-reaching implications. For example, by 2050, nearly three-quarters of global dementia cases will occur in low- and middle-income countries that do not have the infrastructure to deal with an aging population. I am currently working to understand how social and economic conditions in South Africa, a rapidly aging country, can be targeted through social protection policies to protect older population cognitive health on a large scale.
I am fascinated by aging from a population health perspective because later life is the time when a person's accumulated history of exposures to health risks is manifest in their health status. We see huge variability between people in their health and functional status in later-life. Much of the social, economic, behavioral, and environmental sources of between-person variability in later-life health are modifiable. Policy interventions are a major opportunity to improve and protect the health of populations as they age. My research aims to inform such policies to maximize the health of aging populations in an equitable fashion across a variety of settings.
My overall research goal is to help policymakers and other leaders design policies to protect and promote the health of older adults. This includes social protection policies, such as pensions, as well as health care policies, such as ongoing survivorship care for older cancer survivors. I am excited that IHPI provides a platform for this type of policy impact.