The focus of a public-health response to the needs of older people who have, or are at high risk of, significant losses in capacity will be the provision of long-term care (Chapter 5).
The role of long-term care systems is to enable an older person to maintain a level of functional ability consistent with their basic rights, fundamental freedoms, and human dignity. This requires both ensuring the optimal trajectory of intrinsic
capacity and enabling older people to perform with dignity the basic tasks that are necessary for their well-being. This can take many forms. For example, early care to reduce declines in capacities might include family members encouraging
older people to become more active and assisting them with this as well as encouraging them to eat well.