XUNICEF News and Views

Vaccines are helping older people more than we knew Author: Paula Span, KFF Health News Publication: The Denver Post Date: January 19, 2026 URL: Click here for the article Summary: Recent research reveals that vaccines provide significant "off-target benefits" for older adults beyond preventing their primary target diseases. 

  Medicare Scammers Are Calling Seniors 50 Times a Day, Trying to Trap Them Nick Keppler, The New York Times, December 5, 2025 Click here for the article Summary Seniors across the United States are being bombarded with Medicare scam calls during the annual open enrollment period, with some receiving 50 to 60 calls daily. The scammers impersonate Medicare officials or claim to offer enhanced Medicare plans, attempting to steal personal information to charge Medicare for bogus services. 

Check out this article: A new study reveals that current lung cancer screening guidelines may be missing most cases, prompting calls for changes to detect the disease earlier.   John https://wapo.st/48n94HE  

Can we all learn the Italian formula?  Will XUNICEF members one day also join 'the over 100' club?  Tom Italy’s centenarians grow in number as another 2,000 reach the milestone Angela Giuffrida The Guardian Click here for the article . Summary Italy now has 23,548 residents aged 100 or over, up from 21,211 in 2024, as more than 2,000 people reached the milestone in 2025, according to Istat. Women account for 82.6% of new centenarians and also dominate among 724 people aged 105+ and 19 aged 110+, while Molise leads in centenarians per capita, followed by Aosta Valley and Liguria. The trend mirrors wider EU ageing patterns and is linked by researchers to factors such as Mediterranean diet, social ties and generally strong healthcare, even as Italy’s record-low 2024 births intensify policy pressures on pensions and health services. Quotes “She will ‘keep going so long as my health permits’.”

I think our XUNICEF crowd should be aware as grandparents. Lou Are You Oversharing Online About Your Kids or Grandkids? IDX Knowledge Center – Identity Theft Guard Solutions, Inc. (IDX) Click here for the article Summary The article explores the phenomenon of “sharenting”—where parents or caregivers post details about their children or grandchildren online—and urges caution about how much and what kind of personal information is shared.

Back to school for pop pop. Gramps will pay for time with someone who won’t call him ‘dear’ or ‘honey’. John Why Are More Retirees Going Back to College? Sarah Bahr – The New York Times Click here for the article Summary Across the U.S., at least 86 URCs now operate, linked to major institutions like Penn State, Michigan, and Stanford.

Work Out While You Work: 10 Strength-Building Office Exercises You Can Do in Everyday Clothes Emine Saner – The Guardian Click here for the article Summary Emine Saner outlines ten simple strength-building exercises that can be done at work without gym clothes or special equipment. She argues that frequent, short bursts of movement—“exercise snacks”—can significantly improve posture, strength, and mobility, counteracting the sedentary habits of office life.

Editor's Note:  This article is another in our series 'At Our Age'. We hope that you find these articles of interest. If so, please share other articles you feel will be useful for our community. How to Future-Proof Your Knees David Cox – BBC Future, September 27, 2025 Click here for the article Summary Our knees, among the body’s most important joints, bear immense stress yet receive little preventive care. According to orthopedic specialists, even basic strengthening exercises in midlife can prevent later pain and disability. Everyday movement places up to 1.5 times body weight on the knees, and over time, weak supporting muscles accelerate wear on cartilage, increasing the risk of osteoarthritis. The good news: research shows that consistent muscle strengthening can delay or even prevent joint deterioration and reduce the need for knee replacement surgery.

  Want Fewer Morning Aches? You Might Need to Change the Way You Sleep By Andee Tagle — NPR Click here for the article: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/02/nx-s1-5435668/sleep-body-pain-minimize-morning-aches-soreness Summary Morning aches and stiffness are often caused by hours of poor sleep posture, say medical experts. Nurse practitioner Ellen Wermter advises sleeping in alignment with the body’s natural curvature—“sleep like you stand”—to prevent muscle tension, inflammation and pain. Back sleepers find this easiest, but side and stomach sleepers may need to adjust pillows or retrain their sleep habits. Choosing the right pillow height (“loft”) and supporting gaps with smaller pillows or rolled blankets can help maintain neutral spine alignment. Replacing pillows and mattresses regularly, and using gentle pain relief or heat/ice for residual soreness, can also reduce morning discomfort.

  This year's theme is built around the role older persons themselves can take in driving action for improvements in well-being and rights. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the UN is holding a high-level event in New York and a September event in Vienna.

Editor's Note:   This article is the fourth in our series 'At Our Age' which focuses on issues relevant to the age profile of many XUNICEF members. ...... Many of us know friends or relatives living with Parkinson’s disease (PD), often with debilitating shaking of hands and limbs. Symptoms usually appear after age 60.   While the exact cause is not known; PD likely results from a mix of environmental exposures and genetics. What’s clear is that certain pesticides and herbicides (herbicides are one type of pesticide) and industrial solvents have been repeatedly linked to higher PD risk. A recent column by Nicholas Kristof notes that Parkinson's (PD) is the world's fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorder with some 90,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the US alone. Kristof points to the risks of one major culprit - the common herbicide paraquat, often marketed under the name Gramoxone (see below for other brand names). Kristof says the risks have been known at l...

The below poem is one making the rounds on social media. It resonated with me and I thought I'd share this soul searching reflection on how we generally live our lives, but in later years discover that a life well lived is one filled with love and non-materialistic values. 

This article is the third on our recent series on concerns relevant to the XUNICEF age profile. This one is the JAMA article on which the NYTimes based its article, " Why are more older people dying from falls ?" which we posted two weeks ago.  Again, it makes the argument that many of the falls are caused by excessive and sloppy prescribing of drugs by physicians.   Last week we posted, " Lessons from the super-agers ," an overview of research on factors that keep those over age 80 going strong.  If you have articles on elder health that you think would be of interest to the XUNICEF community, please share.  And let us know if you find this series of articles on good living in elder years useful. Tom  Risky Prescribing and the Epidemic of Deaths From Falls Thomas A. Farley, MD, MPH JAMA Health Forum Click here for the article Summary More than 41,000 adults over age 65 died from falls in 2023, a toll surpassing deaths from breast or prostate cancer, c...

A Collection of Recent Insights into Super-Aging Advice on how to live longer while staying healthy seems to appear everywhere — often in bite-sized lists that are easy to skim but hard to follow. 

This article raises the question of why fall-related deaths have been rising so dramatically among elders. One likely cause may be the number and mix of drugs prescribed, with new drugs added with each visit to the doctor, but little attention to removing older prescriptions. Special attention is needed to fall-risk increasing drugs (FRIDs).  This might be a good time to review your list of 'meds' with your doctor.  Tom

Article shared by Nuzhat Shahzadi Dear Editors, This heartbreaking news (source CNN) caught my attention. Medical research has beaten plague, cholera . . . checked many bacterial and virus-borne illnesses like Covid, RSV, Strep, as well as NCDs, etc. that have prolonged life, possibly? 

A small note in connection with observance of the International Day of Elderly Persons 2004 here in Dhaka by the Association of Former UN Staff Of Bangladesh (AFUNSOB) with some photos for your information.  Thanks and regards. Masood from Dhaka, Bangladesh. On the occasion of the observance of the Day of Older Persons 2024 on 01 October 2024, AFUNSOB organized a discussion session at UN WFP conference room, Dhaka. About 20 AFUNSOB members participated in the event. The theme of the day was "Ageing with Dignity". SG's message was read out on the occasion and the discussion was centered around the significance of the day. Two older poor persons, one female and another male, were honoured with gifts and small cash allowance by AFUNSOB. Also on 02 October 2004 at the WHO country office Dhaka, in collaboration with its South East Asia Regional office, New Delhi organized a WEBINAR for the AFUNSOB members. WHO Country Director presided over the session. Several AFUNSOB and W...

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Today, is THE Day! Jim Mohan We, the Semi-Elderly We grew up in the 40s-50s-60s. We studied in the 50s-60s-70s. We dated in the 50s-60s-70s. We got married and discovered the world in the 60s-70s-80s. We ventured into the 70s-80s. We stabilized in the 90s. We got wiser in the 2000s. And went firmly through the 2010s. Turns out we've lived through NINE different decades.. TWO different centuries... TWO different millennia... We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world, we have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp.. From live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, and then to HDTV... We went to Blockbuster and now we watch Netflix...We got to know the first computers, punch cards, diskettes and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in hand on our cell phones or iPads... We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long pan...

Last year many of us thought that the zombies had gone - or at least we hoped so.   We should have known better.  Classic zombie movies should have taught us that you can never kill zombies. They just keep coming.  You can try to burn them, lob grenades at them, cut off their heads, but they always keep coming.   We even tried the 'kill the vampire' move - stake through the heart.  Nothing worked. Such were the COVID zombies - for three years we did all the right things to ward them off. Some of us became hermits, locked ourselves up in our homes, limited our shopping, avoided gatherings and visitors.  We dutifully took the required shots and boosters and wore our masks.  Even then, despite all our precautions, the COVID zombies caught up with many of us. Most of us survived with fairly mild symptoms.  Then we went around telling others, "Oh, it wasn't so bad." Doing so, we ignored all evidence to the contrary - the fact that some did no...