Geneva (Switzerland), March 19: Every second person in the world is believed to hold ageist attitudes, as has been unveiled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and swift action is needed to implement effective anti-ageism strategies, according to a UN report released on Thursday.
The report was jointly released by the World Health Organization (WHO), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The report unveiled that during the response to control COVID-19, older and younger people have been stereotyped in public discourse and on social media, and in some contexts, age has been used as the sole criterion for access to medical care, lifesaving therapies and for physical isolation.
A systematic review in 2020 showed that in 85 percent of 149 studies, the age determined who received certain medical procedures or treatments, the report said, while both older and younger adults are often disadvantaged in the workplace and access to specialized training and education decline significantly with age.
Ageism, however, has serious and wide-ranging consequences for people's health and well-being. An estimated 6.3 million cases of depression globally are estimated to be attributable to ageism. It intersects and exacerbates other forms of bias and disadvantage, including those related to sex, race and disability, according to the report.
"The (COVID-19) pandemic has put into stark relief the vulnerabilities of older people ... because they are poor, live with disabilities, are women living alone, or belong to minority groups," said Natalia Kanem, executive director of United Nations Population Fund.
Source: Xinhua