USC and HelpAge USA spotlight global aging issues at the new Capital Campus

As the United States confronts the challenges and opportunities of an aging society, it is equally critical to address similar—if not greater—challenges in the developing world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 80% of the world’s older people will live in low- or middle-income countries by 2050. It is in these countries that opportunities for healthy longevity may be most unequal, limited by lifetimes of disparities related to gender, healthcare, employment, caregiving, and more. Low and middle-income countries are also aging faster than rich countries, giving them less time to prepare for the shifts in health care, social security, employment, and other sectors needed to support an aging population.

Keck School of Medicine of USC and Institute on Inequalities in Global Health (IIGH) are leveraging the university’s Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. to help place healthy longevity at the center of the global health and development agenda. With the leadership of D.C.-based HelpAge USA, the Capital Campus recently hosted a unique gathering of experts in aging, global health, humanitarian affairs, human rights, international development, and other sectors for a unique gathering to elevate and strengthen networks working on this issue.

“I witness every day how population aging is transforming our world – from the need for integrated health systems, to the ways in which health inequities accumulate along the life course, to the need to guarantee access to the social determinants of healthy aging, from housing to livelihoods to a healthy environment,” said Carolyn C. Meltzer, MD, dean of the Keck School of Medicine.  “Working closely with Sofia Gruskin, the director of the Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, I see Washington, D.C. as a bridge between the expertise of our faculty and the global health and development community.”

The gathering marked the visit of HelpAge International CEO, Cherian Mathews, to the East Coast for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. It showcased the transformational work that the HelpAge global network is doing to improve health and well-being for older adults in low and middle-income countries, as well as USC’s own track record and convening power in the field of global aging.

“Healthy aging should be at the center of the global health and development conversation in Washington, DC,” said Cindy Cox-Roman, CEO of HelpAge USA and a graduate of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “We are thrilled that USC’s expansion to the East Coast creates opportunities to join forces on behalf of older people worldwide.”

The event built upon key programmatic investments that IIGH has made over the past year to launch a new program on global aging to enhance healthy longevity, particularly for those facing inequity and discrimination as they age. This work is led by Keck School of Medicine and IIGH’s representative in Washington, D.C., Professor Jonathan Cohen, who served as a global health and aging policy fellow in the U.S. Senate last year and also serves on the board of HelpAge USA. As a Congressional fellow, Cohen contributed to the development of new legislation on U.S. support for strengthening health systems abroad—a key measure in helping low and middle-income countries adapt to demographic change.

Population aging is an issue for which USC has long been globally known. In addition to Keck School of Medicine and IIGH, faculty from the schools of gerontology and public policy have worked across borders to generate scientific and policy innovations to support an aging world. USC Dornsife’s Center for Economic and Social Research, which also has a team at the Capital Campus, receives multiple grants from the National Institute on Aging for the Gateway to Global Aging Data and related projects.  With the new Capital Campus in D.C., USC faculty have an opportunity to work across schools and disciplines – medicine, gerontology, global health, public policy, law, and many more – to address the megatrend of global population aging and promote healthy longevity for all people.

The recent event highlighted not only the health and well-being of older adults, but also the bold way in which the HelpAge network is pursuing international development—vesting power in local communities and beneficiaries, especially organizations of older people.

“HelpAge was one of the first global nonprofit organizations to genuinely localize and decolonize,” said Cohen. “This is also the way we try to do global health at USC, and it is a model for all of us in Washington, D.C.”

The partnership between USC and HelpAge USA comes on the heels of key IIGH events and publications on global aging in recent months. In September 2023, IIGH hosted the webinar “HIV/AIDS and the Longevity Dividend,” exploring how longer life expectancy will reshape the global HIV response. Additionally, IIGH faculty and staff have authored multiple recent publications on global aging, including “Rethinking HIV in an Aging Society” in Think Global Health, as well as “How Can US Global Health Assistance Adapt to Population Aging?” published in Just Security.

“Population aging is precisely the kind of cutting-edge issue in global health that can benefit from the equity and human rights frameworks that IIGH has applied to countless issues,” said Gruskin. “The opportunity to bring this issue to the center of global health decision-making in Washington, D.C. is a generational one for USC.”

Over the coming year, Cohen will work with colleagues across Keck School of Medicine and USC more broadly to continue to develop these sorts of programs and opportunities around global health equity within the USC Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. The Capital Campus is providing a wealth of new opportunities for USC students, faculty, staff, and alumni to engage with lawmakers, policy leaders, diplomats, NGOs, and other leaders as part of a comprehensive program on global health equity. Projects encompassing both domestic and foreign health policy themes will include a joint event series held in collaboration with the USC Center on Communication Leadership and Policy’s Washington Programs, as well as expanded educational engagement opportunities in Washington, D.C., such as fellowships and other opportunities for students, postdocs, USC faculty and visiting global experts.