Private stakeholders and providers: the experience of Edad&Vida Foundation

INTRODUCTION: Demographic change and population ageing are global processes without precedent. The 21st century will witness even more rapid ageing than did the century just past and governments, private sector as well as civil society should work together to give answers to the social and economic challenges we will all be facing. DESCRIPTION: Edad&Vida (Age and Life) (http://www.edad-vida.org) is from 2001 the meeting point of private companies, elderly associations and academic institutions, who work together to give an answer to the needs of elderly people and to promote initiatives to improve their quality of life in a responsible and sustainable way. Our ‘raison d’être’ is promoting the joint responsibility and balance between the public sector and the private initiative, with the aim of responding to the economic and social challenges of an ageing population. In this sense, some of the recommendations of Edad&Vida to the public administrations are: a stable and clear legal frame-work for the private initiative to make the necessary investment efforts; the health and social care integration; an offer of quality services to the elderly people and the accreditation system to guarantee this quality; a fair correlation between costs and prices paid; the long-term care system sustainability through co-payment etc. CONCLUSIONS: Edad&Vida Foundation is a reference and pioneer institution in Spain and in Europe and fosters the dialogue and co-operation among public and private sector as well as elderly associations and academic institutions with the aim of improving the quality of life of elderly people.