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The population structure in the world is changing dramatically, and the aging of societies is a demographic fact.

In 2022, there were 771 million people aged 65 or over – almost 10% globally. The older population is projected to reach 994 million by 2030 and hit 1.6 billion by 2050 – 16.4% globally, but 27% in Europe and North America!

Half of this age group is aged 75 years or over, and their growth rate is the fastest, compared to every other age group.

These demographic facts make preventive medicine and health promotion a key issue, especially for primary healthcare teams.

The leading causes of death among persons aged 65 and over used to be (1) Heart disease, (2) Cancer, (3) Stroke, (4) Chronic lower respiratory disease, but in recent years COVID-19 took the 3rd place as a leading cause of death.

Prevention of morbidity is also important, as the elderly tend to be fragile, and different diseases such as infectious diseases may have a longer recovery than usual.

The practice of prevention should be evidence-based in order to be accurate and to reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

In this webinar we will discuss the new vaccinations that have recently been introduced (e.g., against pneumococcal diseases and herpes zoster) and go over the other prevention guidelines.

About the Presenter Tom Axelrod, MD, MPH

Clalit Healthcare Services
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Dr. Tom Axelrod is a Family Physician specialist with a work assignment at two academic peripheral clinics in Israel. He is co-editor for the Israeli Preventive Medicine and Health Promotion Task Force Guidelines and serves as a Medical Education leader within the Medicine Faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Tom pursued his medical and master's degree in public health at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For more than a decade, he has been teaching and leading the development of two courses for medical students: Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) and Public Health. Additionally, he spearheads the newly established excellence program, Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC), at the Faculty of Medicine.

Having completed his Family Medicine residency in 2019, Tom now practices in two academic peripheral clinics in Israel. In his capacity as the primary physician, he caters to the medical needs of the entire community, spanning from infancy to elderly patients, involving preventive medicine consultations, palliative care, and minor surgical procedures.

He is a co-editor of the comprehensive Israeli Preventive Medicine and Health Promotion Task Force Guidelines, which encompass the complete preventive medicine recommendations, divided by age groups. In addition, he is also a member of the Israeli Society of Preventing Overdiagnosis which initiated Choosing Wisely Israel.

About the Moderator Dr Ferdinando Petrazzuoli

Ferdinando Petrazzuoli has been a family doctor in his native, rural, village in Southern Italy for 35 years. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmo, Lund University, Sweden. He obtained his PhD at the Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmo, Lund University, Sweden in 2019 with the thesis: Dementia management in European Primary Care. He has a Master of Science (MSc) in Primary Care & General Practice from the University of Ulster (United Kingdom) (2008). From June 2022 on  WONCA Europe Executive Board member at large (EURIPA). From 2010 to 2019 he was a member of the Executive Board of the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN) which is a network within WONCA Europe. He completed three terms as vice-chair and is responsible for the Web Based Research Course. In 2017 he was nominated to be chair of the Dementia group in the Working Party on Mental Health of WONCA WORLD. In 2015 he was nominated to the Euripa Executive Board, and became Chair of the EURIPA Scientific Board. Euripa is the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association and is a network within WONCA Europe. In 2022 he was nominated member at large for the WONCA Working Party on Mental Health. 2018-2020 Involved in Fall-in-Age project: Innovative Training for Technology-based Frailty and Falls Management, an Eramus+ granted Project Project Reference: 2018-1-PT01-KA203-047343. https://fallinage.ist.utl.pt/index.html

This webinar is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from GSK.