GENEVA Colin Miller Jersey , June 14 (Xinhua) -- One in six elderly people aged 60 and over, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, suffers various forms of abuse, inflicting an impact on their health and wellbeing, a latest study by the World Health Organization says on Wednesday.

The study, supported by the WHO and published in the Lancet Global Health, draws on the best available evidence from 52 studies in 28 countries from different regions, including 12 low- and middle-income countries.

It has found that almost 16% of people aged 60 years and older were subjected to either psychological abuse, financial abuse, neglect, physical abuse or sexual abuse.

The most pervasive, for example, is psychological abuse, which includes behaviors that harm an older person's self-worth or wellbeing, such as name calling, scaring, embarrassing, destroying property, or preventing them from seeing friends and family.

All forms of the abuse can have health effects on the aged, such as traumatic injury and pain, depression, stress and anxiety, and hence a possible increased risk of nursing home placement, use of emergency services, hospitalization and death.

"Despite the frequency and the serious health consequences, elder abuse remains one of the least investigated types of violence in national surveys, and one of the least addressed in national plans to prevent violence," says Alana Officer, Senior Health Adviser, Department of Ageing and Life Course at WHO.

"We must do much more to prevent and respond to the increasing frequency of different forms of abuse."

By 2050, the number of people aged 60 and over will double to reach two billion globally, with the vast majority of older people living in low- and middle-income countries, the study says.

If the proportion of elder abuse victims remains constant, the number of people affected will increase rapidly due to population ageing, growing to 320 million victims by 2050.

To address the situation, health ministers from the globe adopted the WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health at the World Health Assembly in May 2016.

Priority would be given to improving studies on the frequency of elder abuse, particularly in low- and middle-income countries from South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa, where little data had been available.

The WHO strategy would also collect evidence and develop guidance on what works to effectively prevent and respond to elder abuse.

The UN General Assembly has also designated June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, for the whole world to voice its opposition to the abuse on and suffering of the older generations.

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A common expression is "I'll meet you halfway," and we often take that attitude into our marriage. I hear frequent complaints from couples in trouble that their partner isn't pulling their fair weight, that one is giving more than the other.

Whoever determined that life is a 50-50 proposition?

Some give more than others. Some take more than others. On every level of society from politics to business to social interactions, there are discrepancies of effort, economics, and emotions.

Going into a relationship with the expectation that contributions will be fairly shared is to court disaster. Over a span of time, a certain amount of evenness will develop through a process of give-and-take and ups-and-downs. But at any specific point, one may be giving while the other needs to just take for a while.

We all need to enter the most important relationship of our life with the foreknowledge and determined commitment to give 100%. Once we have internalized that concept, we can avoid the painful feelings we get when we think we are being cheated of our just rewards. If the relationship is healthy, and both partners are committed to the 100% investment, eventually it will work out somewhere in the middle -probably never 50-50 but somewhere in the broad bell curve of averages: 30% to 70%. At different times, the equation adjusts as careers, children, and other responsibilities change.

If you are the individual giving 70% and your other half is falling a little short, remember that you swore to give 100% so you are much better off than you expected.

Can you see how such thinking changes the framework of your marriage? You're not getting cheated, you're getting much more support than your original bargain called for!

You can use this new attitude in any aspect of your partnership. Many couples develop resentment over their relative monetary contributions. If you have the initial anticipation of being the sole breadwinner, then any contribution by the other, however small, is a great big bonus. If you enter the union with the expectation that you will handle all the cleaning and parenting chores required, then anything done by your partner is a plus.

If one of you handles your mutual social obligations, then the participation of your spouse, even if limited to just showing up and being there, is more than you expected. You may feel, as many of my patients do, that you are not getting the support and good strokes that you deserve. Reframe the sense of deprivation within the 100% concept and you find that even occasional support and positive feedback is an unexpected gift.

We all need to feel lo.