Last week the Israeli government adopted the Optimal Aging Dashboard as the National Index for Optimal Aging, providing Israel’s government ministries and agencies a shared set of indices for determining and measuring levels of optimal aging among Israeli citizens – the extent to which Israel’s older adults are healthy and living independently.
The dashboard was developed by JDC-Eshel and the Israeli government, together with the data, research and consulting support of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. The dashboard was created based on a review of more than 100 longitudinal studies.
“The JDC-developed Optimal Aging Dashboard officially adopted by the Government of Israel, is a major strategic step to bettering the lives of Israel’s older adults on a national scale level,” said Yossi Heymann, JDC-Eshel CEO. “For the first time since its formation, the state of Israel will have a strategic tool to evaluate itself and the state of its elderly. Optimal Aging is a challenge for many countries around the world, and we hope our dashboard can be of value to other countries, global NGOs and Jewish communities.”
The dashboard is a set of indicators that define the key elements of optimal aging and present their current status nationally. A set of predictive indicators was also developed to predict good health, economic resilience and a sense of meaning in life. These were then compared to international OECD benchmarks in order to identify priority areas for focusing resources to achieve the greatest impact on optimal aging in Israel.
With the dashboard as Israeli policymakers’ and program developers’ north star going forward, efforts in this realm can be directed toward the same goals and measured using the same indicators.
A statement from JDC notes, “The significance of bringing together government ministries and partner organizations in the aging eco-system to work toward a common set of measures cannot be understated. It is a major strategic achievement that is set to benefit all of Israel’s older adults, today and in the future. Furthermore it will assist the Israeli economy and the country’s public services to meet the challenge of an aging population.”
