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Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Despite the benefits derived from the use of assistive technologies (AT), some parts of the world have minimal or no access to AT. In many low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC), only 5–15% of people who require AT have access to them. Rapid demographic changes will exacerbate this situation...

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Autores principales: Marasinghe, Keshini Madara, Lapitan, Jostacio Moreno, Ross, Alex
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4680721/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26688747
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000065
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author Marasinghe, Keshini Madara
Lapitan, Jostacio Moreno
Ross, Alex
author_facet Marasinghe, Keshini Madara
Lapitan, Jostacio Moreno
Ross, Alex
author_sort Marasinghe, Keshini Madara
collection PubMed
description Despite the benefits derived from the use of assistive technologies (AT), some parts of the world have minimal or no access to AT. In many low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC), only 5–15% of people who require AT have access to them. Rapid demographic changes will exacerbate this situation as populations over 60 years of age, as well as functional limitations among older populations, in LMIC are expected to be higher than in high-income countries in the coming years. Given both these trends, AT are likely to be in high demand and provide many benefits to respond to challenges related to healthy and productive ageing. Multiple databases were searched for English literature. Three groups of keywords were combined: those relating to AT, ageing population and LMIC selected for this study, namely Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Turkey and Zimbabwe. These countries are expected to see the most rapid growth in the 65 and above population in the coming years. Results indicate that all countries had AT designed for older adults with existing impairment and disability, but had limited AT that are designed to prevent impairment and disability among older adults who do not currently have any disabilities. All countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The findings conclude that AT for ageing populations have received some attention in LMIC as attested by the limited literature results. Analysis of review findings indicate the need for a comprehensive, integrated health and social system approach to increase the current availability of AT for ageing populations in LMIC. These would entail, yet not be limited to, work on: (1) promoting initiatives for low-cost AT; (2) awareness raising and capacity building on AT; (3) bridging the gap between AT policy and practice; and (4) fostering targeted research on AT.
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spelling pubmed-46807212015-12-18 Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review Marasinghe, Keshini Madara Lapitan, Jostacio Moreno Ross, Alex BMJ Innov Assistive Technologies Despite the benefits derived from the use of assistive technologies (AT), some parts of the world have minimal or no access to AT. In many low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC), only 5–15% of people who require AT have access to them. Rapid demographic changes will exacerbate this situation as populations over 60 years of age, as well as functional limitations among older populations, in LMIC are expected to be higher than in high-income countries in the coming years. Given both these trends, AT are likely to be in high demand and provide many benefits to respond to challenges related to healthy and productive ageing. Multiple databases were searched for English literature. Three groups of keywords were combined: those relating to AT, ageing population and LMIC selected for this study, namely Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Turkey and Zimbabwe. These countries are expected to see the most rapid growth in the 65 and above population in the coming years. Results indicate that all countries had AT designed for older adults with existing impairment and disability, but had limited AT that are designed to prevent impairment and disability among older adults who do not currently have any disabilities. All countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The findings conclude that AT for ageing populations have received some attention in LMIC as attested by the limited literature results. Analysis of review findings indicate the need for a comprehensive, integrated health and social system approach to increase the current availability of AT for ageing populations in LMIC. These would entail, yet not be limited to, work on: (1) promoting initiatives for low-cost AT; (2) awareness raising and capacity building on AT; (3) bridging the gap between AT policy and practice; and (4) fostering targeted research on AT. BMJ Publishing Group 2015-10 2015-09-11 /pmc/articles/PMC4680721/ /pubmed/26688747 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000065 Text en Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
spellingShingle Assistive Technologies
Marasinghe, Keshini Madara
Lapitan, Jostacio Moreno
Ross, Alex
Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
title Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
title_full Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
title_fullStr Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
title_short Assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
title_sort assistive technologies for ageing populations in six low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review
topic Assistive Technologies
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4680721/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26688747
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000065
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AT rossalex assistivetechnologiesforageingpopulationsinsixlowincomeandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreview