Evolution, Aging and Primary Elderly Care

Human life span has been and continues to be extended, and technology and scientific works are being mobilized to sustain this extension. Achievements are so far limited to the treatment of diseases which the incidence increases in old age. What needs to be achieved in order for people to live longer and healthier lives is not the creation of a moribund and vulnerable elderly society in need of care, but rather to allow elderly people to live a healthy long life. Thus, re-planning health care for elderly people has become a necessity. The provision of health care services to the elderly is primarily a duty of the bottom level health services (BHS). The purpose of this review is to first inform the BHS care providers about the evolutionary origins of aging, and thus improving the care provider’s approach to the elderly patient, and then to develop recommendations defining primary elderly care (PEC) service development for BHS care providers in order to better plan the primary health care (PHC) for elderly.