Reflections on Functioning and Disability in Aging and Public Health

Abstract

The studies about the functioning of the elderly play an important role on what the present knowledge of the demography in the world is. The conceptual aspects of functioning according to WHO and operated by the international classification of functioning (ICF), have been insufficiently addressed concerning its adequate applicability in most countries, hindering the contributions of its operation. The ICF operationalizes a new paradigm of the concepts of functionality/disability, but also in relation to the concepts of health/illness, quality of life and well-being; where social skills, personal skills and physical capacity are emphasized, in a multidirectional and dynamic way, where all its components interact equitably with each other. The authors reflect on the contributions that the ICF can make to the organizational, legislative, and structural needs in terms of aging.