TEHRAN – The head of the Welfare Organization, Mohammad-Javad Hosseini, and the World Health Organization representative, Jean Jabbour, at a capacity-building session have discussed the urgent actions needed for health and social systems to adapt to meet the requirements of a significantly older population.

Hosted by the State Welfare Organization (SWO) on June 22, the session focused on integrated care for older people (ICOPE), and taking proactive steps to address the future of care for older people, WHO website announced in a press release on June 24.

The global population aged 60 years and above is growing rapidly, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is no exception. By 2050, nearly 30 percent of the Iranian population is projected to be over the age of 60, a demographic shift that brings a host of challenges.  

ICOPE is grounded in the concept of healthy ageing, with a focus on developing and maintaining the functional abilities that enable well-being in older age. It promotes a community-based approach that reorients care away from a narrow focus on diseases towards an integrated, person-centered system.

During the session, Jabbour drew attention to the second edition of the ICOPE care handbook which streamlines the care pathway into four essential phases – basic assessment in the community, in-depth assessment in primary care, development of a personalized care plan and continuous monitoring.

For his part, Hosseini stressed how the Islamic Republic of Iran’s rapid demographic transition requires urgent action to strengthen health and social care systems for older people. SWO, he announced, plans to pilot ICOPE in four areas covered by the Community-Based Rehabilitation Program, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and other partners, and with technical support from WHO.

For the strategy to succeed, health cannot be treated as an isolated sector: successful implementation, said Jabbour, relies on intersectoral collaboration, linking health services with social welfare, housing, transport and community support to enable older people to age in place, safely and comfortably. He underlined that community participation is central to the strategy: engaging older people as active decision-makers in their own care and empowering family caregivers through training can help build a care system that is both humane and sustainable.

Team Lead for Healthier Populations at the WHO Country Office, Rahim Taqizadeh-Asl, presented the strategic foundations for integrated care, emphasizing the need to transform fragmented services into a capacity- and person-centered ecosystem. He highlighted the importance of maximizing functional ability through multidisciplinary coordination, community-based care pathways and digital enablement to help ensure that older people can age with dignity while maintaining independence.

Acknowledging the challenges, including service fragmentation, Jabbour expressed confidence in the country’s existing capacities and the strong commitment of its care providers to bridge any gaps. He reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to providing technical support, including through training health workers and adapting digital self-management tools to local contexts.

The session concluded with a shared commitment to ensure that every older person is seen not as a set of symptoms but as an individual with a lifetime of experience who deserves to age with dignity, independence and respect.

Welfare Organization services to the elderly

The Welfare Organization is planning to train consultants on aging or aging life care professionals. It has launched community-based rehabilitation (CBR) projects in less privileged and remote areas where access to welfare services is limited. Social workers receive a 20-hour training to start their jobs as facilitators in these centers. The project has so far covered 95 percent of the rural areas, and is planned to cover 30 percent of urban areas, as well.

According to Hosseini, the Welfare Organization has validated some 300 elderly day-care centers in cooperation with the national standard organization, and it is planning to establish new elderly service centers such as the elderly villages and elderly social health towns, behzisti.ir reported.

Prevention of disability in old age, home rehabilitation, home care services, and livelihood assistance for the elderly with severe disabilities are among other programs of the organization. The financial assistance has increase by 80 percent for nursing and 100 percent for home visit services.

The Welfare Organization has started to implement a forty-day training program for old people to improve their quality of life.

The program includes 240 different educational subjects such as health, life skills, arts, communication skills, digital and entrepreneurship, music, sports, games, and other leisure activities.

It was planned to be implemented as a pilot program in Tehran. Each individual registers to participate in the program for forty days within the three-month duration.

Participants are divided into two groups to attend the sessions either on odd or even days, with educational programs provided daily in two different parts. The first 15 minutes is dedicated to physical workout, the next 45 minutes focus on specialized training, and 90 minutes is allocated to recreational programs. During the educational courses, each person receives detailed training essential for self-care and improving their quality of life. Last year, over 200 older people received training.

So far, 19 cities in the country have taken necessary measures to develop age-friendly communities. These cities are located in different provinces, including Tehran, Gilan, Yazd, Isfahan, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Lorestan, Hamedan, Khuzestan, and Bushehr.

Age-friendly communities are places where age is not a barrier to living well and where the environment, activities, and services support and enable older people to have opportunities to enjoy life and feel well.