It is expected that at
some point during the 21st century there will be more older people
than children in the world. Whilst our life expectancy has improved, the
wellbeing of older people and society’s attitude to the elderly are not
necessarily following suit. World Health Day,
7th April, focuses on improving the health of older people to enable
them to live more fulfilling lives and keep them part of the community. ‘Add
health to life’ is the slogan that the World
Health Organisation (WHO) is using as part of this year’s campaign.

Research on ageing and effective healthcare
systems for the elderly are essential to ensure that we can cope with an
increasingly ageing population. BioMed Central has three long established
journals publishing research on the clinical and biological aspects of ageing:

• Immunity and Ageing
  publishes popular
  and innovative articles on the biology of ageing. The journal will shortly
  be publishing a series on centenarians. The genetic and environmental
  factors influencing the probability of becoming a centenarian will be
  explored in the series. The series will also include case studies of
  centenarians.

• BMC Geriatrics
  publishes articles on diseases often affecting the elderly and the
  health care available to older people all over the world. This also
  includes non-standard health interventions. For example, Laver et al.
  evaluated the usefulness of Nintendo Wii Fit as a therapeutic tool for the elderly – they tend
  to prefer more traditional therapy.

• Many
  diseases associated with ageing, such as Alzheimer’s, are not curable and patients require palliative care. This is addressed in BMC Palliative Care.
  

By changing social attitudes
to the elderly, and enabling them to engage more within the community, it is
hoped that the health and wellbeing of the elderly will improve – adding health
to their lives.   

Srimathy Sriskantharajah

Senior Journal Development Editor

• About
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Liz Bal

Associate Publisher at BioMed Central

Liz completed an MSci in Biology at Imperial College London, before joining BioMed Central in 2010. Now, as an Associate Publisher in the Biological Sciences team, she is responsible for the development of a portfolio of neuroscience, biotechnology and cell biology journals.

Latest posts by Liz Bal (see all)

• Why neuroscience needs neuroinformatics: a Q+A with Helena Ledmyr - 15th March 2016
• How can we advance data sharing in dementia research? - 9th October 2015
• Podcast: Understanding the links between sex/gender and autism - 26th May 2015