The International Day of Older Persons on 1 October every year is a key opportunity to celebrate the lives of our senior citizens, while highlighting both the opportunities and the challenges that ageing presents.

• In August, WHO announced that healthy life expectancy in the African Region has increased by an average 10 years per person between 2000 and 2019. This increase is greater than for any other Region of the world during the same period.
• Life expectancy for Africans is now 56 years. This is still lower than the global average of 64 years.
• This year’s theme, “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World”.