Opportunities and Threats for E-Health on an Ageing Society

Impact Of Population Ageing On Health And Healthcare

The developed and emerging economies witnessed a significant improvement in overall health status across populations, which was reflected in improvement on living conditions, a reduction of certain risk factors (e.g., smoking rates) and progress in health care (OECD, 2013).

The reasons behind these improvements are not consensual among researchers. There are some authors who argue that the improvement verified in populations’ health status was achieved due to technical developments in medicine. Others authors defend that such phenomenon were due to social advances verified in the living conditions of populations (McKeown and Lowe, 1974). However, marginal gains on population health eventually reached a threshold, paving the way for technological innovation, including ICTs, in healthcare, as the main catalyst for future development in the sector. In addition, little is known about what will be the consequences in terms of age structure or in terms of health status of the population or the best way to provide health care.