One in three Europeans will be over 65 by 2060. The ratio of working people to the 'inactive' others is shifting from 4 to 1 today to 2 to 1 by 2060 (2015 Ageing Report). Already by 2020 we will face up to 2 million vacancies in health and social care. For the EU between 2010 and 2060 total government spending on pensions, healthcare, long-term care, unemployment benefits and education will increase by almost 20 per cent, while expenditures for long-term care will double. Care has to be more patient centred, with more focus on prevention, early diagnosis and chronic conditions. Industry for ageing well must invest and innovate, in close cooperation with users and consumers. And all of us must get smart and feel empowered to integrate ICT-products and services for ageing well in our private lives and professional practice. Europeans over 65 already have a spending capacity of over €3,000 billion and the number of people with age-related impairments will grow from 68 million in 2005 to 84 million in 2020. Europe boasts an innovative ICT industry with innovative SMEs, developing many new products and services. In view of the market opportunities arising from public expenditure related to the rights, needs and demands of the growing population over 50, the EU urges stakeholder to support the improvement of health related digital literacy of the Europe’s elder population. In this context, the current project proses the design and development of an inclusive, interactive and user-friendly digital platform to equip and improve digital health literacy for the elder European population (50+). The platform will support online training modules for digital and health literacy, analyze relative risks and benefits, evaluate information for credibility and quality, communicate with health providers, navigate eHealth services, basic health terms glossary, country-specific health access info, which will also be available through mobile platforms/applications. Additionally the platform will support eHealth tools (health services navigation and communication, basic health terms glossary), peer to peer support tools, patients’ engagement systems, and patients-center health practice management. ICT can contribute by providing European citizens with better and cheaper services for health and ageing well. The introduction of ICT alone is estimated to improve efficiency of health care by 20%. Moreover, ICT empowers users of every age to better manage their health. iHeal is aligned with a series of Erasmus + objectives: •Develop ICT tools designed to educate and equip elder EU Citizens with transversal skills, and basic skills such as digital literacy, communication and networking •Inclusive, open and innovative training embedded in the digital era •Strengthen cooperation and exchange of information and good practices between different areas of EU •Support the development of the EU as a knowledge-based society, fostering inclusive educational opportunities •Improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities that are tailored to individual adult learners The work of the consortium will be broken down into a series of overlapping phases incorporating research and analysis, design and development, testing and implementation, validation, localization, communication and exploitation of project outputs. Underpinning the work through all phases will be competent management and effective monitoring of the scheduled activities, on-going assessment and evaluation of project outcomes, rigorous quality management and appropriate dissemination activities to generate awareness of the aims and objectives of iHeal and the innovative tools and resources developed. The project envisions developing close synergies between the diverse areas of work of the partners, with common parameters the promotion of adult learning, lifelong skills, digital health literacy and European cohesion. Specifically in the consortium of partners consists of 1 University, 2 Wellbeing Organizations (Prolepsis, BOSEV), with particular expertise in the field of public health, elders health literacy and adult education. Members of the consortium are also 2 research and development centers (CSI and WIN) who will lead the development of triaging platform, 3 adult training associations/networks (Asteres, INOVA+ & InEuropa) specialized in adult education who will support the adult education instructional design and the implementation of the platform. Longer term benefits for EU and its Citizens •Increased awareness of the opportunities and enhanced skills on how to use ICT for health-related purposes for EU citizens •Positive impact at the personal level (knowledge, self-confidence) and empowerment •Strengthened evidence base on health outcomes, quality of life, from a more digitally health literate population
Many scientific studies indicate that by 2060, one out of every three Europeans will be over the age of 65. The ratio of working people to others 'inactive' varies from 4 to 1 today, to 2 to 1 in 2060 (2015 Report on Aging). Age-related statistics also draw attention to the importance of elderly care in the future.The care has to be more patient centred, with more focus on prevention, early diagnosis and chronic conditions. Industry for ageing well must invest and innovate, in close cooperation with users and consumers. And all of us must get smart and feel empowered to integrate ICT-products and services for ageing well in our private lives and professional practice. Europeans over the age of 65 already have a spending capacity of over 3,000 billion euros, and the number of people with age-related disabilities has increased from 68 million in 2005 to 84 million in 2020. Europe boasts an innovative ICT industry with innovative SMEs, developing many new products and services. In view of the market opportunities arising from public expenditure related to the rights, needs and demands of the growing population over 50, the EU urges stakeholder to support the improvement of health related digital literacy of the Europe’s elder population. In this context, this project we have completed has enhanced the design and development of an inclusive, interactive and user-friendly digital platform to equip and develop digital health literacy for the elderly European population (50+). The platform supports online training modules for digital and health literacy, analyzes relative risks and benefits, evaluates available information for reliability and quality, engages intensively with health providers, integrates navigation with eHealth services, glossary of essential health terms, country-specific health access also supports information.The groups determined as the target audience in the project can access the relevant mobile platforms through applications. In addition, the platform effectively supports eHealth tools (health care navigation and communication, glossary of essential health terms), peer-to-peer support tools, patient attendance systems, and patient center health practices management. As stated in the project, with the ICT applications we use, we have contributed to providing better and cheaper services to European citizens for health and well-being, as in many similar projects. Because many scientific studies predict that the introduction of ICT alone increases the efficiency of health services by 20%. It has also enabled users of all ages who are proficient in using ICT to better manage their health. Our iHeal project has been handled and realized in line with a number of Erasmus+ goals. These are our goals; • ICT tools designed to train and equip older EU Citizens with cross-skills and core skills such as digital literacy, communication and networking have been developed. • All of our project products have been realized and disseminated through inclusive, open and innovative education embedded in the digital age. • With this completed project, cooperation and information exchange between different areas of the EU have been ensured and good practices have been strengthened and disseminated with new examples. • The development of the EU as a knowledge-based society is supported and inclusive education opportunities are encouraged. • High quality learning opportunities tailored to individual adult learners were provided and expanded. The work of the Iheal Consortium has been divided and treated as such into a series of overlapping phases that include research, analysis, design, development, testing and implementation, validation, localization, communication and use of project outputs. Appropriate dissemination activities have been carried out and resources have been developed to underpin the work at all stages, competent management and effective monitoring of planned activities, continuous evaluation and evaluation of project results, rigorous quality management and awareness of iHeal's goals and objectives and innovative tools and tools. The project envisaged to develop close synergies between adult learning, lifelong skills, digital health literacy and European cohesion with common parameters across the different fields of work of the partners. In particular, the consortium of partners includes 1 University and 2 Welfare Organizations (Prolepsis, BOSEV) with specific expertise in public health, elderly health literacy and adult education. Members of the consortium also completed the project with 2 research and development centers (CSI and WIN), which led the development of the triage platform, 3 adult education associations/networks specializing in adult education (Asteres, INOVA+ & InEuropa) that will support adult education instructional design, and organizations that include implementation of the platform. Through this completed project, longer-term benefits are foreseen for the EU and its Citizens. Because with the use of project products • Increased awareness of opportunities and enhanced skills for EU citizens on how to use ICT for health-related purposes, • Positive effects were achieved at the personal level (knowledge, self-confidence) and empowerment, • Enhanced evidence-based practices on health outcomes and quality of life from a more digitally health literate population have been implemented.