The geriatrician in 1996--a viewpoint from Switzerland

The aging of populations represents a tremendous challenge for the 21st century, all the more since it is known that men are more often confronted with periods of disability in later life than in other periods of their life span. To meet this concern, actions should be taken in the medical field and in this regard, the geriatrician has an essential role to play. Geriatrics, as an innovative discipline, should become a widely-recognized and strengthened speciality on the academic plane, also through promoting high-level research, on which high-quality teaching in turn depends. There is a need, therefore, to arm family doctors, because they are in charge of following up the population's aging; indeed, they, better than anyone else, know the difference between normal aging and pathology, and thereby are the very first to make interventions aimed at facilitating the aging process.