City leadership for age-friendly communities in the post-pandemic era: five lessons for building health emergency resilience from 16 European cities

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic hit older people hardest. This policy brief, intended for planners, policy-makers and politicians, was produced by the 16 cities of a Healthy Ageing Task Force and the WHO Regional Office for Europe. During the pandemic, cities provided leadership and innovative programmes to meet the four key challenges of survival, equity, creating conditions for people to adapt and thrive, and ensuring older people have a voice which is listened to and acted upon. Drawn from the experience of the cities, five lessons should inform age-friendly, resilient and adaptive cities for all types of health emergency: building resilience together; using a cycle of preparedness, response and recovery; adopting an all-hazards approach; investing in community infrastructure; and creating systems for feedback from older citizens. Older people should not be left behind when cities prepare for, respond and recover from future crises.