Situational Analysis: Gerontechnology and Older Persons Wellbeing in developing countries

The world is ageing increasingly, and developing countries are facing unprecedented growth. With the concurrent rapid growth in emerging digital technology, it provides a flourishing platform for Gerontechnology. The utilizationof technology for healthcare realignment is part of the solution under Global Strategy on Ageing and Health to support healthy ageing. Substantial evidence from developed countries has shown positive effects of various gerontechnologies on the wellbeing of the older persons. However, little is known in developing countries.Materials and methods:The importance gained fromthe interaction between ICTs and older adults observed in studies, takes us a further stepto review the pieces of literature to explore the acceptance and the impact of gerontechnology on the wellbeing among older persons. This rapid review was driven by the five phases of the Evidence-informed Decision-making (EIDM) methods and eleven papers were included for final extraction of the data.Result: Results showed that acceptance is low in countries like South Africa but high in Malaysia, where the accessibility is high. The popular devices are mobile phones, smartphones and computers. Case study revealed 35.5% of the participants who owned ICT devices are having chronic illness, andthis sheds lights on the high accessibility of the device among the older persons who have co-morbidity.Discussion: Building on this report and scarcity of quality research in this field, especially in the developing, confer the need for a larger future studies with a robust methodology. Conclusion: Another aspect is to give full support to efforts to make gerontechnology accessible to older Indian or Malaysian and within reach. The government will set in effect strategies to allow older citizens to utilize technology, and promote a positive climate that will make them utilize gerontechnology