Alleviating global health disparities among the older population through healthspan science
The future of health requires more than treating disease and living longer; it requires investment in ageing well
What was the impetus for the Hevolution Foundation and its critical investment in healthspan research?
The incredible scientific advances of the past centuries have increased life expectancy for people across the globe. These added years, however, are most often spent in poor health, and we must now focus on extending healthy lifespan, also known as healthspan.
Our global population aged 60 years or older is set to double to 2 billion in 2050.1 Approximately 75%2 of the ageing population worldwide suffers from at least one age-related chronic condition and, currently, more than two-thirds of the ageing population live in low- and middle-income countries with limited access to care. In the next few decades, a large subset of our world will be riddled with chronic disease, which will put a hefty strain on health systems and make the health disparities we see today all the more dire.
Recognising this, Saudi Arabia pledged a transformative investment of up to a billion dollars a year because this issue is too significant to ignore, and there is a clear need for catalytic action. Hevolution Foundation, a first-of-its-kind global non-profit, was created to fund research and entrepreneurship in the emerging field of healthspan science.
How does focusing on prevention help people live longer, healthier lives?
Today’s health system structure follows the traditional “sick care” model for age-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. However, at Hevolution, we believe in doing things differently. Our prevention-based model focuses on addressing the complex biological causes of ageing, fostering scientific advancements in ageing and increasing accessibility to life-saving therapeutics. This model will ultimately help us get ahead of the burden that comes along with age-related diseases, relieve the strains on our current health system and allow people to live healthier, more productive lives.
This follows a similar approach that researchers implemented for cancer and HIV at their nascent stages – and, at first, people were sceptical. Once these scientific discoveries took off, prospects for researchers and scientific advancement accelerated.
As the majority of chronic diseases affecting the older population are age-related, Hevolution is specifically funding research that can address the ageing process, reducing risk of developing chronic disease and adding healthy years to life. Preventive measures that encourage healthy ageing can positively impact the economy, reduce healthcare costs, decrease stress on healthcare systems and lessen the burden on those who serve as caregivers for ageing family members.
What steps can we take to make advancements in ageing research?
We need to support and encourage scientific research by the world’s brightest minds, encouraging scientists to care about ageing research and engaging the next generation to spark innovation and inspire transformation. However, to date, this field has been critically underfunded, with hindered research preventing us from seeing its full potential.
The first and most important step is agreed collaboration among all parties. The science world is a very competitive environment, but this is the time to put competitive tendencies aside and come together. Our sole and shared focus should be advancement in ageing research. Discoveries in this space will increase the number of preventive treatments on the market and ultimately increase accessibility to therapeutics. With that, the most vulnerable members of the ageing population who live in health deserts or suffer from limited access to care will have a fighting chance at a healthy life.
Not only do we need the science community to come together, but we also need involvement from various industries and sectors across the world. This massive undertaking requires an abundance of stakeholders, from educational institutions to policymakers to non-governmental organisations. We need to unite, with hunger and humility, to bring life-changing discoveries to fruition. Hevolution is helping to alleviate this issue by making meaningful investments in large research institutions, universities and individual researchers. These investments set the foundation for further advancing the science behind ageing, unlocking vital discoveries and attracting emerging talent to enter the healthspan space. In two short years since operationalising, Hevolution has allocated over $400 million to advance healthspan science and geroscience.
What’s next for the future of healthspan science?
We are tackling one of the greatest challenges of our time by supporting the healthspan field as it continues to grow and evolve. Some promising opportunities in healthspan that excite us include – but are not limited to – drug repurposing, cellular senescence, senolytics, genetic and epigenetic innovation, and artificial intelligence–powered target discovery.
Hevolution’s 2025 Global Healthspan Summit from February 4–5 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will be an important convening moment, bringing together top-tier researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, international non-profit organisations and others across sectors and specialties to reshape the future of ageing. We look forward to building upon the momentum of our inaugural 2023 event, which highlighted insights from accomplished thought leaders3 and hosted 2,000 attendees4 – all with the common goal of extending healthspan and transforming the future of ageing.5 This February, we will continue to facilitate action-based conversations to discuss the latest advancements in scientific research, facilitate meaningful investments and provide engaging networking opportunities among leading visionaries.
References
1 Ageing and health (who.int) 2 Caring for an ageing population (who.int) 3 Global Healthspan Summit: Moments of Genius – YouTube 4 Shaping a future of healthy ageing: reflections from the Global Healthspan Summit – Economist Impact 5 Global Healthspan Summit 2023: closing the gap between healthspan and lifespan (hevolution.com)
