EXPERTS ON AGEING BEGIN PLANNING RESEARCH FOR NEXT CENTURY AT VIENNA MEETING
Press Release
SOC/4481
EXPERTS ON AGEING BEGIN PLANNING RESEARCH FOR NEXT CENTURY AT VIENNA MEETING
19990204 VIENNA, 4 February (UN Information Service) -- Some 31 experts from 14 countries met in Vienna from 1-3 February to launch a two-year global effort that will outline a research agenda on ageing for the twenty-first century.The meeting, sponsored by the Novartis Foundation for Gerontological Research and held under the auspices of the United Nations programme on ageing, stressed a need for urgent action in preparing the world for a dramatic increase in older persons during the next century. According to United Nations projections, every third person on earth will be aged 60 years and over by the year 2050.
The aim of the research agenda discussed at the meeting, which was attended by members of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union, is to generate scientifically sound data to feed government policies worldwide, which will translate the demographic revolution into richer and more meaningful lives for all.
Delegates agreed after heated discussion that the fundamental purpose driving the research agenda must be an improvement in the quality of life. At this early stage of the agenda, experts are still wrestling with a universally understood explanation for quality of life and how this can be measured.
The meeting stressed that over the last 50 years, 20 years had been added to life expectancy worldwide, making ageing one of the great achievements of the twenty-first century. Delegates agreed that doom and gloom myths about ageing, which have dominated public thought, were exaggerated. Population ageing will not necessarily break the bank, lead to generational conflict or overwhelm health and social welfare systems. Nor will older persons necessarily be isolated and excluded.
That developing countries will soon feel the full impact of individual and population ageing may also be overstated, although these nations will age two to three times faster than those in the developed world over the next few decades, participants agreed.
Exciting new developments such as genome studies have moved ageing from corner to cornerstone of the research community and challenged government inertia, delegates said. Advancements in ageing research should give
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developing countries a chance to bypass many of the mistakes made by developed countries and assist all countries to avoid poverty and aid independence in old age.
The meeting, held at the beginning of the International Year of Older Persons, stressed that not only governments, but individuals, families and communities must be aware that decisions made today for the future can be investments yielding huge returns for a better and longer life.
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