Your Health

Factors	Individual action	Policy action
Fœtal environment	Ensure balanced nutrition in young girls Avoid smoking during pregnancy	Focus health promotion activities on girls and women Increase awareness about importance of balanced nutrition for girls and women
Childhood environment	Breastfeed babies for at least 4 months Ensure balanced nutrition & adequate physical exercise for your children Have your child immunised and observe good hand & food hygiene to prevent infection	Promote breastfeeding, legislate against advertising for milk powder, and fortify foods/water in areas of malnutrition Ensure access to immunisation programmes Improve sanitation & housing and reduce domestic overcrowding
Smoking	Stop smoking – cessation is beneficial at any age Educate your children about the ill effects of smoking	Ban tobacco advertising Ban sale of tobacco to children Provide health education in schools and workplace
Alcohol	Maintain moderate drinking limits Seek professional help if you think you may drink excessively	Ban sale of alcohol to children
Physical activity	Exercise regularly from the earliest years through to older ages; walking, climbing stairs, and housework are effective forms of exercise!	Incorporate exercise into school curricula Create workplaces which provide exercise facilities Encourage sports for seniors
Diet	Consume a diet high in fibre and low in animal fat and salt Reduce your weight if you are overweight and maintain normal body weight	Increase consumer awareness about direct links between good nutrition and health
Adult Diseases	Make above-listed life style adjustments Make use of available prevention programmes (screening and vaccination) See your doctor at regular intervals	Implement evaluated prevention programmes Ensure access to safe maternity services Provide accessible and affordable health care for all and reduce environmental threats
Social integration	Stay involved in your family, your community, a club, or a religious organisation Be aware of and speak out against ageism Continue to educate yourself and all your children	Support activities that foster social cohesion Provide access to life-long learning Promote solidarity among the generations
Gender	Be aware of and speak out against gender discrimination and prejudice Educate boys and girls to avoid gender stereotyping	Implement legislation against gender discrimination in education, jobs, helath care, property rights, marriage and inheritance laws Promote health education on the dangers of high risk life styles by targeting population groups that are particularly at risk Integrate gender analysis in health research and health care programmes
Income security	Be informed about public and private measures intended to protect income security over the life course	Provide income security and access to appropriate health care for older persons Fight age discrimination in the workplace

We are all ageing – every day of our life. John H. Glenn, Jr. was 77 years old when he went into space for a second time as part of a scientific experiment to explore the secrets of ageing. Every one of us started to age before we were born and we continue to do so throughout our entire life course. Ageing is a natural process and should be welcomed, because the alternative would be premature death.

Life expectancy has risen sharply this century, and is expected to continue to rise, in virtually all populations throughout the world. The number of people reaching old age is therefore increasing. There are currently 580 million people in the world who are aged 60 years or older. This figure is expected to rise to 1,000 million by 2020 – a 75% increase compared with 50% for the population as a whole.

Health is vital to maintain well-being and quality of life in older age, and is essential if older citizens are to continue making active contributions to society. The vast majority of older people enjoy sound health, lead very active and fulfilling lives, and can muster intellectual, emotional and social reserves often unavailable to younger people.
Powerd by who.int