The 2020 annual meeting of the WHO Consortium on Metrics and Evidence for Healthy Ageing was the fourth gathering of an international group of experts from all WHO regions, including policy-makers, civil society organizers and researchers, drawn from the full breadth of the field of ageing to progress the work agreed by Member States under the 2016 WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing (GSAP) and the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030). This meeting report summarizes the discussions on the contributions of CMEHA members to the Decade of Healthy Ageing: Baseline Report (launched 17 December 2020), and next steps in view of the strengths, gaps and opportunities identified. It also outlines the next steps for implementing the Decade of Healthy Ageing in line with metrics and evidence, and derivative products related to the Baseline Report.

The Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030 will focus on four key actions: changing how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing; developing communities in ways that foster the abilities of older people; delivering integrated care and primary health services that are responsive to the needs of older people; and providing older people who need it with access to long-term care. All are critical for building back better, and for fostering healthy ageing. The Baseline Report for the Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021−2030 addresses five issues so that policy-makers and others in government, the private sector, civil society and research are committed to implementing actions to achieve the ambitious goals set out in the Decade: 1. Introduces Healthy Ageing, the Decade’s actions and enablers, and a pathway to accelerate impact by 2030. 2. Where are we in 2020? The report provides a first-time baseline for healthy ageing worldwide. 3. What improvements could we expect by 2030? It documents progress and scenarios for improvement. 4. How can we accelerate impact on the lives of older people? It shows how older people and stakeholders can together optimize functional ability. 5. The next steps including opportunities to boost collaboration and impact by 2023, the next reporting period.

The WHO World report on ageing and health is not for the book shelf it is a living breathing testament to all older people who have fought for their voice to be heard at all levels of government across disciplines and sectors. - Mr Bjarne Hastrup President International Federation on Ageing and CEO DaneAge This report outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. This will require a transformation of health systems away from disease based curative models and towards the provision of older-person-centred and integrated care. It will require the development sometimes from nothing of comprehensive systems of long term care. It will require a coordinated response from many other sectors and multiple levels of government. And it will need to draw on better ways of measuring and monitoring the health and functioning of older populations. These actions are likely to be a sound investment in society's future. A future that gives older people the freedom to live lives that previous generations might never have imagined. The World report on ageing and health responds to these challenges by recommending equally profound changes in the way health policies for ageing populations are formulated and services are provided. As the foundation for its recommendations the report looks at what the latest evidence has to say about the ageing process noting that many common perceptions and assumptions about older people are based on outdated stereotypes. The report's recommendations are anchored in the evidence comprehensive and forward-looking yet eminently practical. Throughout examples of experiences from different countries are used to illustrate how specific problems can be addressed through innovation solutions. Topics explored range from strategies to deliver comprehensive and person-centred services to older populations to policies that enable older people to live in comfort and safety to ways to correct the problems and injustices inherent in current systems for long-term care.

This volume provides an in-depth analysis of historical and recent developments of senior learning in Taiwan, where publications in English have been scant. It takes a broader view on lifelong learning and active ageing from a theoretical/conceptual base written by prominent international authors- this represents the ‘outside in’ perspective. The ‘inside out’ on the other hand signifies an in-depth investigation of initiatives written by authors from Taiwan who are closely involved with developments in policy and practice. The volume is situated theoretically in the intersection of complementary concepts such as lifelong learning, active ageing, later life learning, learning communities and social movements. It is located geographically and culturally in East Asia where senior learning/education is expanding in response to large populations of older adults and concerns about their physical and social well-being. It is argued that Taiwan is leading the way in terms of innovation and community engagement in regard to older adult learning/education and can thus serve as a model for neighboring countries. By analyzing historical precedents, cultural dynamics, policy trends, research sub-fields and community engagement this book is of interest to both East Asian and Western scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and students amongst the fields of lifelong learning, social gerontology and educational psychology.

Healthy ageing has long been a neglected area of epidemiological research as the traditional focus has been on specific chronic diseases of older life. There is a growing consensus from scientists, research funders and policy makers that ageing itself needs to be studied from an interdisciplinary and life course perspective, to inform strategies for reducing the societal and individual costs of an ageing population. A Life Course Approach to Healthy Ageing is a synthesis of life course perspectives in epidemiology and interdisciplinary perspectives in ageing research. It brings together expert investigators of maturing birth cohort and ageing studies, cross-cutting methodologists, and authorities in ageing research and knowledge transfer from across the world in one wide-ranging volume. Contributors discuss how aspects of healthy ageing are conceptualised, defined and measured; relate to each other; change across life; and are influenced by biological, psychological and social factors operating from early life onwards. They identify research gaps, and suggest how evidence from observational studies can be strengthened through improved study design and longitudinal analysis, thereby increasing the research contribution to practice or policy change. The book considers how we might delay or slow down the progressive, generalised impairment of function that occurs at the individual, body system and cellular levels, as people grow older. It also considers the determinants of wellbeing in older people, including personal fulfilment, positive emotions and social relationships. Broad in scope, discussing topics from genetics to psychological and social wellbeing, A Life Course Approach to Healthy Ageing is a key resource for epidemiologists, social scientists, clinicians, public health physicians, policy makers and practitioners with a research interest in healthy ageing.