{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022632968691059976, 'fraction_numerical': 0.006412674462466994, 'mean_word_length': 5.041002277904328, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO AGEING, HEALTH, POVERTY AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK AND PLAN FOR RESEARCH

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) population is ageing. In the next few decades the numbers of older people will increase exponentially from currently 36.6 million to 141 million in 2050, with their population proportion rising from 5 to 10%. An even sharper surge in population ageing can be expected if the AIDS epidemic – and the disproportionate death of younger and middle aged adults – continues. Older people's lives in the region are characterised by growing inadequacies in customary family support systems, vulnerability to poverty and exclusion from health services. At the same time, they make critical contributions to the welfare of younger generations in their families and communities – most prominently as carers of children or grandchildren diseased or orphaned by AIDS. The ageing of individuals and populations in SSA, and their emergent health and livelihood situations present key challenges, which are the result of, and in turn foster, societal change − and which African nations must begin to address. Societies need to understand the dynamics and implications of individual and population ageing, and governments need to develop policy responses to enhance the well-being and capacity of older people at present and in the future. The international and African community, with the second United Nations World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid in 2002, the ensuing Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and key WHO and AU policy frameworks, has recognised and emphasised the urgent need to address and respond to population ageing in Africa. Yet, very little progress has so far ensued on the ground. This omission reflects, in large part, the lack of evidence and knowledge upon which to build, and thus points to the vital need for enhanced research on ageing, health, poverty and development in sub-Saharan Africa: (a) to act as a catalyst to promote and inform policy development and (b) to enable Africa to gain a much fuller understanding than hitherto exists of the ageing-related social processes that shape the development of its individuals, families and societies. This crucial need for research is stressed both in the Madrid Plan Action on Ageing and the WHO framework (as well as in the Commission for Africa's strong general call for enhanced research on the continent), and the UN together with the IAG has recently made first, valuable steps in developing a broad research agenda on ageing for the Africa region. What is lacking, however, and urgently …