WHO accused of 'institutional ageism' over five-year work programme

Academics strongly criticise World Health Organisation for leaving older people and dementia off its proposed list of funding priorities

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is being accused of institutional ageism by academics, who say older people and dementia have been left out of its work programme for the next five years.

In a letter published in the Lancet medical journal, the academics say WHO is "washing its hands" of older people. "This is entirely unacceptable. If the proposed programme is approved, it will considerably diminish WHO's global authority and will brand it as a champion of age discrimination," says the letter from experts on ageing from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.