Draft of the Global Standards for Long-Term Care

The World Health Organization (WHO) has opened a public consultation on its draft Global Standards for Long-Term Care, the first global framework to guide how countries plan, deliver, monitor and improve long-term care for older people. The draft forms a key milestone under the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021 to 2030) and covers eight chapters: definitions and principles; home and community-based care; facility-based care; support for unpaid carers; workforce; financing; governance; and quality monitoring.

WHO designed the standards to work across countries with very different income levels, resources and levels of formal care system development.

It wants views from governments, care providers, professional associations, organisations representing older people and unpaid carers, civil society and researchers on the relevance, clarity, completeness, feasibility and priorities of the proposed standards, as well as the document's overall structure.

Respondents can complete an online questionnaire (available in eight languages), email written submissions to [email protected], or join regional consultation events. The consultation closes on 30 October 2026, and WHO will use the responses to revise the standards before final publication, with a separate summary of findings to follow.