Education & upskilling

2.3 Policy

Designing a global strategy for adult education and upskilling to boost health and life expectancy must strategically leverage the intrinsic motivation and life experience of adult learners while systematically dismantling socioeconomic and logistical obstacles. Opportunities lie in applying adult learning principles, which prioritize flexibility, self-direction, and practical relevance, ensuring that educational content directly leads to tangible health improvements, such as higher income, reduced stress, and enhanced self-management of chronic conditions.

Furthermore, integrating functional health literacy—teaching adults how to navigate healthcare systems, understand prescriptions, and evaluate health information—into all basic skills and upskilling programs is crucial, as low literacy is directly linked to poor health outcomes and high healthcare costs (DeWalt et al. ,2004).

The need for lifelong learning and upskilling is particularly crucial for the aging workforce to maintain employability, economic stability, and cognitive function in the face of rapid technological change (Gardyan, 2024). The importance of targeted educational interventions across the life course, from childhood to old age, is emphasized to address the differential acquisition of health literacy and the emergence of chronic diseases that widen the healthspan-lifespan gap (Garth, 2024).