WONCA Special Interest Group: Ageing and Health

Leon Geffen (South Africa)

email convenor

Leon Geffen is a GP based in Cape Town since 1990. He graduated with an MBChB from University of Cape Town in 1987 and completed his qualification as a Family Physician in 1995. He is the Director of the Samson Institute For Ageing Research. He is a Fellow of interRAI. He serves as an expert to the World Health Organisation’s Clinical Consortium For Healthy Ageing & Global Network for Long-term Care. He is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Ageing in Africa at the University of Cape Town. He has an interest in health systems research and is currently investigating novel ways of improving the assessment and management of people older than 60 presenting at primary care services. He has previously served as the medical director of AgeWell. In 2023 he was elected Chairperson of the Ageing & Health Special Interest Group of the World Organisation of Family Doctors.   

In September 2022, he was named by the WHO as one of the 50 leaders across the globe working to transform the world to be better place to grow old. 

He has been a member of the South African Academy of Family Physicians (SAAFP), the South African affiliate of WONCA. As a member of the SAAFP, he has coordinated CPD programmes for the general practitioners in hs local community, served as the chairperson of the Southern African Sentinel Practitioners Research Network (SASPREN), served as the SAAFP representative on the WONCA IT working group from 1998 - 2004 and was on the local organising committee for WONCA 2001 conference  held in Durban, South Africa. He served on the editorial board of the SA Family Practice Journal.

His work over the past 10 years has seen him develop initiatives to provide a community based peer support program for older persons (AgeWell) which was recognized by the WHO in their World Report on Ageing and Health as an innovative program on providing long-term support services to older persons living in resource constrained countries and communities. He has subsequently founded the Samson Institute For Ageing Research, an independent non profit research institute in South Africa,and the only research institute of its kind focusing on older persons in sub-Saharan Africa. 

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he joined forces with experts across the globe to assist in putting together an action plan for mitigating the effects that COVID would have on older persons. He has provided input on COVID at a global, national, sub-national and community based level. His work in this area has been widely reported in the media which has allowed him to advocate for the rights of older persons.

His hobbies include hiking, including summiting Mount Kilimanjaro on 3 occasions, good food, listening to music, travel and robust discussions on how we can make the world a better place for all.

The aims of the WONCA SIG on Ageing and Health

The SIG aims to improve elderly care in primary care in all countries by developing new primary care models for the elderly; advocating the implementation of undergraduate and postgraduate family physician training in elderly care; promoting research in elderly care in family practice; integrating care of elderly in primary health care services.

Its specific objectives are:

• To stimulate and promote standards of excellence in primary care to empower high standard evidence based elderly care.
• To promote the concept of trans-generational well-being and active aging.
• To promote and develop research on elderly care in primary care.
• To organize scientific meetings, during WONCA and relevant conferences
• To promote the discipline of elderly care in primary care world-wide through working within WONCA, international organisations and agencies, NGO’s, government organisations, patient groups & other medical colleges.

Why we need a SIG on Ageing and Health

The greying of nations is a common observation which will have impact on health systems. Rising health care costs and the need for care to be more rehabilitation and care-oriented, than curative, will be the challenges for the near future.

Chronic health conditions are among the most common causes of mortality and morbidity in all countries around the world. Developing countries are expecting to suffer increasingly from these conditions. In aging populations, we can assume a accumulation of different chronic conditions, which lead to co-morbidity, polypharmacy, and increased health expenditures. The family physician needs to deal with this new problem.

The proportion of study in medical school and family practice residency relating to ageing is still low. The availability of age-friendly services and the provision of social and care giving services in the community is often scarce. Difficulties involved in the provision of elderly care in the family practice setting include: the volume of older patients, lower reimbursement, the duration and quality of doctor-patient relationship, the level of physician training, medical complexity, patient vulnerability, administrative burden, communication barriers, family support, ethical issues, and time pressure.

The SIG on Ageing and Health has a vision to see a universal gold standard of care for elderly care by primary care in collaboration with all interested disciplines and stakeholders involved.

GeroFam aims to publish original research and review articles of relevance to primary health care practitioners, family medicine specialists and academics from both the developing and developed worlds, public sector and private practice with a focus in gerontological sciences. Papers are peer reviewed to ensure that the contents are understandable, valid, important, interesting and enjoyed. All manuscripts must be submitted per e-mail.

Journal

• GeroFam - A peer reviewed, evidence based Gerontology oriented family practice journal

WHO Resources

• WHO Age-friendly Primary Health Care Centres Toolkit 2008
• The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with partners and Ministries of Health from developed and developing countries, has produced an age-friendly Primary Health Care (PHC) toolkit aimed at sensitising and educating PHC providers about the needs of older clients.The toolkit addresses key concerns such as comprehensive and integrated care; continuum of care; physical and social environment; and PHC workers' core competencies. It has been endorsed by WONCA, the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, the International Federation on Ageing, HelpAge International and the New York Academy of Medicine among others.
• WHO Towards Age-friendly Primary Health Care 2004
• Preceding the toolkit WHO also produced a document to outline the approach to more age-friendly PHC.

Other

• The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. United Nations
• Ageing and Life Course WHO
• Global Agenda Council on Ageing Society 2011. World economic forum
• International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics and Global Aging Research Network (GARN).
• The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse.