Strong and Vital No 2

Repor tage

The Company of Elders The Desire to Dance Knows no Age From London to theatres all over Europe with the Company of Elders, a group of dancers over 60 founded in 1989. Staying active and socialising is important for everyone, inclu ding seniors. A comprehensive report on this topic concludes that dancing can benefit older people’s physical health as well as promote their mental wellbeing and social inclusion. Dance improves psychophysical wellness «Dancing is for me a need, a natural condition,» says one dancer, « I’m 78, but I feel twenty years younger. Dance is fantastic because it makes you stay in shape and move every part of your body, but in a delicate way. Dancing strengthens your body and improves balance, preventing old people from falling. The extraordinary thing is that when some of us had to temporarily leave the company for various problems or for undergoing operations, dance made them rapidly recover. This project increases our determination and lets us keeps going». Social relations The members of the ensemble are not exclusively retired dancers, but also people who simply want to dance and per form and have discovered this passion late in life. The special thing about this ensemble is that the performers are members of the dance troupe of the renowned Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

Given the importance of the project, the dancers are often invited to travel to other cities to raise awareness and spread the message. They have travelled several times to the Nether lands, Portugal, Sweden and the Venice Biennale. Age is not a limit for them. Their identity has nothing to do with age. As life expectancy increases, it is important to find new ways to ensure the wellbeing of all generations. The main event organised by Sadler’s Wells dedicated to older people is the Elixir Festival, which takes place every two years. At the last event, 20 companies and 220 dancers took part. The event is a source of gratification that allows to create connections, to raise awareness, to be active, to give something of oneself to the audience. Info: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/company of-elders-zoonation-youth-company-the-exchange/ Next performance: Saturday, 13 April 2024 London every dollar invested in women’s health would result in about $3 in economic growth. Investing in women’s health, which should encompass more than just reproductive health, is the refore not only a question of health equity, but also an oppor tunity to help women participate more in the labour force. Women’s health is under-funded «Ultimately, much less funding goes to women’s health, which is odd considering that women make up half the population,» said Lucy Perez, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company. The results of the study show that less than 2 per cent of healthcare research and inno vation spending is invested in women-spe cific diseases beyond cancer. Women’s health has long been a neglected area of global health that has received too little investment. Based on the report’s findings, the WEF announced the launch of a global alliance for women’s health, as investment in women’s health must be prioritised in every country. “We do not understand female biology as well as we do that of men ... Endometriosis affects 10 percent of women of reproductive age, but doesn’t see the level of investment or interest in finding a cure. At the heart of it is a socie tal problem because we are not prioritizing the lives of women in the same way that we do those of men. And this then leads to not investing in it. When a woman enters the healthcare system, she is more likely to have her concerns dismissed, ignored or potentially missed altogether. We know what has to be done. We need to work on policy and advocacy. We need to redesign infrastructure for women centric care. We need to make sure that capital is flowing into this. We need to rethink research and development, both in what we research, but also in how we research it. We need to close the data gap and then, finally, we need to reimagine medical education because we’re still using ‘reference man’ as the basis for our medical schools. How about ‘reference woman’?” said Paula Bellostas Muguerza, Senior Partner and Europe Co-Lead, Health at Kearney.

Women’s health The Gender Gap

During the last World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos (Switzerland) women leaders discussed health - and speci fically women’s health. The life expectancy of men and women has obviously inc reased. While it is a success story for humanity, it is not the whole picture. Despite living longer than men, women spend 25 per cent more of their lives in poor health, which in turn has implications for society as a whole. To address these issues, the WEF and the McKinsey Health Institute have pub lished a new insight report as part of the Forum’s Women’s Health Initiative , which was presented in Davos. The report looks at the causes of the women’s health gap, focussing on science, data, care and investment. It identi fies a number of ways to close this gap, from promoting new financing models to investing in women-specific research and implementing more inclusive health policies. Eliminating the women’s health gap could boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040, as there would be fewer premature deaths and health problems, allo wing women to make a greater contribution to the economy and society, according to the report, which estimates that

14

STRONG and VITAL No. 2 - 2024