ONE PLANET. ONE HEALTH

Support the health and well-being of our ageing population

10/05/2022

A 4-month holistic community group-based program launched in the Netherlands, aiming to prevent falls among seniors and thus accompany them to age healthy and independently.

A 91-year-old beneficiary called Ans discussing with Ronald her physiotherapist

Around one-third of people aged over 65 years old fall at least once a year. Fall is a leading cause of injuries and accidental death (1).

The world's population is ageing rapidly. Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 will double from about 12% to 22% according to WHO (2). How do we make sure our societies and healthcare systems are prepared for this tremendous shift and able to support the health and well-being of our fast-ageing population?

Effective strategies to promote healthy aging and independent living have become the focus of upcoming national and local health policies. Aiming to support seniors, healthcare professionals and policy makers in the development of a holistic approach to support healthy ageing, Danone is proud to partner with its brand Nutricia, Danone Ecosystem Fund but also important Dutch stakeholders (e.g., VeiligheidNL, ONVZ, Purpose, Wageningen University & Research and Publab) on a program called Best Frailty Care (TOM) program.

Best Frailty Care (TOM) program

TOM is a 4-month holistic community group-based program that integrates 3 pillars: nutrition, physical activities, and social interactions. Those pillars are articulated around group lunches during which nutritionists educate the program beneficiaries on healthy drinking and eating; individual sessions with a dietician; and physical activity sessions in groups supervised by physiotherapists.

This innovative and holistic program is now recognized as an effective and sustainable approach to prevent falls among seniors and thus accompany them to age healthy and independently.

Launched in the Netherlands in 2017, this program has supported so far +8000 beneficiaries, trained +800 professionals, and has been rolled out in seven municipalities in the Netherlands and is now listed as an approved intervention by the Ministry of Health as a best practice intervention in the National Elderly Pact.

Listen to ANS’ story one of the participants of TOM program

What's next?

The city of Rotterdam, along with local partners, is continuing to deploy the Best Frailty Care program in new areas of the city and adapting the service to fit local seniors’ needs and activities.

Meanwhile, the coalition has started to roll out the program nationally. To facilitate the rollout, municipalities can solicit help from a TOM consulting team to deploy the program for their citizens and make sure all its tools are in place. In parallel, healthcare professionals, welfare organisations and municipalities can follow the TOM trainings to learn about current best practices to improve healthy dietary habits and to reduce falls and injuries related to falls.

What we learnt from this program:

A comprehensive approach combining nutrition, physical and social activities is needed via the collaboration of public and private sectors.

Healthcare budgets need to evolve and focus on patients stay at home practices.

A unique fall prevention program for promoting healthy aging needs to be put in place at the national level.

Health policies need to be implemented to support the growing number of elderly people and the growing costs.

Ressources:

World Health Organization (2021) - Step safely: strategies for preventing and managing falls across the life-course
World Health Organization (2021) - Ageing and health

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