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 IFA - eNews
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Left to right -
Dr. Alakananda Banerjee, Dr Jane Barratt, Mr David Deans, Ms Christine Fang, Ms Kaye Fallick (Akita, October 2009)
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Note from the IFA President
Dear members, colleagues and friends,
 In
October 2009, the IFA reached several new milestones. Friends of IFA Japan (FOIFA), a member organization, convened the first-ever IFA international forum in Japan
on the highly topical theme "Ageing-in-Place and Age-Friendly Cities." The forum
was the brain-child of Board Member Dr Hisashi Hozumi, who owns and
operates acute and long-term care facilities in Akita Prefecture in
the North of Japan. This event brought
together some 250 participants from nearly 20 countries with a particularly
strong participation from Asia. We are deeply
grateful to Dr Hozumi for this exceptionally successful initiative and his
leadership on an important theme which will continue as one of the main areas
of work for IFA as we move ahead. Please look for more information on this international
forum in upcoming e-news and website communiques. And, as an added benefit for our
members, we will be providing access to all presentations made at the forum on our website, as well as creating a
DVD of the event free of cost.
The
international forum was preceded by the second IFA Board meeting of
2009, the agenda of which included elections for President, Treasurer and Regional
Vice-Presidents as well as several Board member positions. As a result of the elections, it will be my
honor and privilege to continue to serve as the President of the IFA, and Mr
Alan How will continue to serve as our Treasurer. Both positions are for another three-year
period. The Board also elected three
Regional Vice-Presidents, and we therefore are pleased to announce that Mr
Gangadharan will continue to serve as Regional Vice President for Asia; Mr
Bjarne Hastrup, Chief Executive of DaneAge, will serve as Regional Vice
President for Europe and Mr Robert Reid was elected to serve as Regional
Vice-President for Oceania. In this
regard, we wish to express special thanks to Mr Gangadharan for the important
work achieved during the past three years on behalf of IFA both in his own
country, India, and in the Asian Region. We look forward to reporting on the work of
the Regional Vice Presidents, with a special focus on Oceania, which will
be host of the IFA 10th Global Conference in Melbourne (May 2010). I would like to take this opportunity to
ask all IFA members who would like to work more closely at the regional level on
either membership recruitment or to encourage work on specific regional ageing issues
to get in touch with the Regional Vice Presidents.
Finally,
we welcome three new members to the IFA Board. Mr Chen Chuansu, President of the China
National Committee on Aging, was elected by IFA members for his first
four-year term of office. Further, Dr
Mary Ann Tsao and Ms Kaye Fallick will be joining the IFA Board as
Directors-at-Large. Dr Mary Ann Tsao,
President of the Tsao Foundation, is well known internationally for her
pioneering work in serving older Singaporeans at the primary health care level
as well as her international advocacy work for older people and older women in
particular. Ms Kaye Fallick is a well
known author, publisher and broadcaster on ageing issues in Australia. We look forward to working with
all of our new Board members. For more information and a listing of all IFA Officers
and Directors, please see the IFA website.
At the Board Meeting, the Directors re-confirmed some of the most important strategic
directions of the IFA for the next three years. These include a renewed commitment
to IFA's biennial global conferences as well as smaller regional meetings to
exchange information and experience on the most relevant issues affecting older
people around the world -- both today and in the future; being a reliable
source of information on ageing at the international level through IFA's
website and publications; providing advocacy at the UN and other international
institutions on issues affecting older people throughout the world; promoting
important international initiatives on ageing, such as WHO's age-friendly environment
program, as well as advocating for the human rights and economic and social
well-being of older people everywhere. We
invite all of our members to engage with us to achieve these important goals.
sincerely yours,
Irene Hoskins
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The Ontario Innovation Summit
The Business of Aging - December 1 and 2, 2009.
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 IFA Secretary General Dr Jane Barratt will be a key speaker in the upcoming summit in Toronto on the exploring the theme "the business of ageing." This event will bring together some of the world's top experts from many backgrounds -including Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin - to explore the many issues that global population ageing poses for communities, governments,
academic and healthcare institutions, and businesses. Dr Barratt will be hosting a workshop on the first day, on Building Age Friendly Communities. Will your community enhance your life as you age? Are you prepared to be a member of the aging population? These are two key questions that will be addressed in this workshop.
The conference brochure, including a preliminary presentation timetable, is available here. The summit is based on 5 themes of interest to businesses: Innovations in an Age Friendly Society, Technology and Community, Maintaining Autonomy, Public Policy, and Commitments to Action.
The summit has been organized by MaRS, a non-profit innovation centre based in Toronto connecting science, technology and
social entrepreneurs with business skills, networks and capital to
stimulate innovation and accelerate the creation and growth of
successful Canadian enterprises. Find out more on their website.
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The Senior Government Officials Meeting 2010
Social Inclusion for an Ageing Population
Immediately prior to the opening of the IFA 10th Global
Conference on Ageing on the 3rd of May 2010, Government Officials from across the globe will be attending a one
day Senior Officials forum in Melbourne, Australia. This meeting builds upon the success of past Senior Officials Meetings hosted by the IFA, most recently in September 2008, where nearly 100 officials from over 40 countries participated. The theme for this Senior Officials Meeting (SOM)
focuses on the issues of social inclusion for an ageing population.
Download the Background Document Here. Key presentations detailing their government's responses to population ageing will be made by Assistant Secretary
for Aging, Ms Kathy Greenlee (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services),
the Chairman of the China National Committee on Ageing, Mr. Chen Chuansu and other officials. New to the 2010 SOM will be the inclusion of a key
address from the corporate sector, with CISCO presenting on how technology can
support and benefit older people .... "Ageing Well in a Connected World".This
is a unique opportunity for representing governments to share, learn
and establish ongoing networks across the globe. For more information about this event, and to read the reports of the Senior Officials Meetings of 2006 and 2008, visit the IFA online today. |
Key IFA Statements at the United Nations
Addressing the Commissions for Social Development and on the Status of Women
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The IFA has been a part of the action at the United Nations in New York this fall, and we have recently presented two key statements to the Commission for Social Development, and the Commission on the Status of Women. Through these statements, the IFA commended the Commission for Social Development for focusing on the issue of social inclusion. Social
inclusion should be the right of every person of any age, but regrettably, older
persons continue to be
marginalized in both developed and developing countries. At the Commission on the Status of Women, the IFA drew attention to the situation of older women in particular, who play very important roles in their communities but are often overlooked. Please read the full statements below:
48th Session of the Commission for Social Development
54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
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Distinguished Senior Citizens of the World
TURYAK Essay 1 - Bridging the Gap Between Cultures
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  As part of the ongoing series following the International
Congress in Istanbul, Turkey we are pleased to share one of the essays that
contributed to the success of this inaugural event. In this edition of IFA
eNews, Mr Franz Bucher of Switzerland shares his thoughts on 'Bridging the Gap
in Between the Cultures' - My country, Switzerland,
as a landlocked country in the midst of Western Europe, has a long history of
living with many cultures. Firstly, for centuries it has been surrounded by the
strong cultures of France in the West, of Germany and Austria in the North and
East and, last but not least, of Italy in the South. Secondly, in the years
following the Second World War workers from Italy, Spain and even Portugal
looked for a new life in our country. Shortly after their families joined them,
to form what are nowadays the largest groups of migrants, often spanning now
three generations. In the Eighties, Greek and Turks discovered Switzerland as
an attractive country and in the Nineties workers and families mainly from the
countries of ex-Yugoslavia followed. Read the full essay here.
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IFA Website Update:
New Features Available
The new IFA website, launched last September, has been
steadily evolving as we incorporate new information and new features. Fall 2009 has been a particular moment of growth
for us technologically, and we can thank the newest member of the IFA family Mr. Sameer Tewar
for much of this progress. Sameer has
joined IFA in a volunteer capacity to assist in upgrading our website, bringing
with him exceptional skills as a software developer for IBM, Canada Inc. At this time, we would like to draw your attention to several key changes
on our website that you will notice immediately.
First, the IFA website can now be automatically translated
into your language using the Google Translator tool located on the left hand
column directly under the main menu. We
acknowledge that automatic translations are not perfect, but we feel this addition
may enhance your experience and will make our site more accessible to people from
other language backgrounds.
Second, in many editions of our newsletter, we have featured
a selection of interesting publications and documents sent to us by governments
and organizations from around the world.
These documents contain the latest research, newest policies, or best
practices on a range of ageing issues.
W hile many of these documents can still be accessed by reading our archived e-newsletters, from this point forward we will be publishing these
documents directly onto our website for all to access, under a new tab on the
main menu entitled: Books and Publications.
These changes are only the beginning! Internet technology advances at a remarkable pace, and IFA will work
hard to stay on top of the trends and maintain our site as user-friendly and
content-rich. Visit us online today. |
Note from Robert Reid
IFA Regional Vice President (Oceania)
Dear readers,
 It is indeed a great honour
to be elected IFA Regional Vice President (Oceania), especially as the issues
of ageing and all its potential impacts come under increased discussion in the
Australian community. The Federal Government's second Inter
Generational Report (IGR) for example, forecasts that over the next 40
years, the proportion of the Australian population over 65 years of age will
almost double to around 25 percent. At the same time, growth in the
population of traditional workforce age is expected to slow to almost zero.
Currently there are 5 people of working age to support every person aged 65 and
over, but by 2047 there will only be 2.4. New Zealand and other nations in our
catchment area are likely to experience a similar demographic shift. The
Oceania ageing experience is a valuable one for the world to know about and
increasingly, the Australian model on aged care, especially in the areas
of quality compliance, design and home care, is one which the world
is looking to copy. As a result, IFA members based in our area are,
increasingly, in demand to explain our model to interested governments around
the world.
The IFA 10th Global Conference, being held in Melbourne in May next year
is therefore an important chance to demonstrate to delegates from around
the world how we are going about dealing with the future - a future
that is exciting with challenges but also exciting with opportunities.
The Global Conference will once again be a good opportunity
for those members in the Oceania area to further our
relationships further, especially with fellow members in Asia through the
IFA regional vice president (Asia), Mr. K. R. Gangadharan. It is
appropriate therefore that we hold a joint regional meeting
while we gather in Melbourne. There will be more information about this in
due course, and be assured that such information will be made available in the newsletter and on the IFA website. |
Update on IFA 201o
Abstract Submission Deadline Approaching Quickly - November 30
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 The IFA2010 Global Conference in Melbourne (3-6th
May)
is attracting a lot of interest! Already, hundreds of papers
from Australia and around the world have been registered and many symposia from international experts confirmed. If you would like to attend this conference, please remember that abstracts are due by November 30 2009! To find out how to submit, please go online here.
Keynote speakers at this conference will include Dr John Beard,
Director of Life Course and Ageing with the World Health Organisation and Dr.
Joel Sadavoy, the inaugural Director of The Cyril & Dorothy, Joel &
Jill Reitman Centre for Alzheimer's Support and Training. Dr Beard will open the conference on Monday 3rd May. Also, Australia's
Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination Ms Elizabeth Broderick will
present a Key Note Address at the conference, providing a starting point for
conference discussion on human rights issues.
The Commissioner's participation ties into a major theme of the IFA conference is
Human Rights and Older People. Recent
work by the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee in August 2009 has considered
the development of a human rights convention for older people. The conference will provide an opportunity
for the IFA to continue international discussion and further international
attention on human rights issues. A
session will be conducted by IFA Director Helen
Hamlin, who will explore the bourgeoning groundswell of international
activity around human rights and older people, exploring the meaning of the
convention, what a document could encompass and how organisations and
individuals can support UN action to achieve this.
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Beijing at 15 - The Beijing Platform for Action 1995
Online Discussions on Women and the Economy
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An online thematic discussion on women and the economy will be held between November and December 23, covering the achievements and gaps of the last 15 years and examining future actions. This exchange of ideas is part of a
series of United Nations online discussions dedicated to the fifteen-year
review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General
Assembly (2000).
It is hosted by WomenWatch , an inter-agency project of
the United Nations Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE).
WomenWatch is a unique electronic gateway to web-based information on all
United Nations entities' work and the outcomes of the United Nations'
intergovernmental processes for the promotion of gender equality and women's
empowerment. These discussions will be a contribution to the 54th
session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which will take place March
1-12, 2010.
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Report from an International Expert Meeting in Israel
"Monitoring Long-Term Care for the Elderly"
From the 7th to 9th of September, the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Services of Israel, the Association for Planning and Development of Services
for the Elderly in Israel ( JDC-ESHEL) and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research jointly organized
an expert meeting on "Monitoring Long-Term Care for the Elderly", in
Jerusalem, Israel. The meeting was attended by experts on long-term care and
ageing from the European Centre, the UNECE, several European countries and
Israel. The 3 day meeting and subsequent field visits to community
service centres in Ashdod and Ashkelon allowed attending experts and policy makers to exchange
views and best practices on the common challenges facing long-term care services. Discussion focused on such key issues as quality assurance, workforce and
the role of foreign workers, and continuity within care services provided for
older people. A forthcoming publication of the European Centre, Facts and Figures on
Long-Term Care - Europe and North America, was first introduced to these
experts and served as the background paper of the workshop. The event and the publication are part of the continuation
of work under the "MA:IMI - Mainstreaming Ageing: Indicators to Monitor
Implementation" initiative ( find out more here) financed by Austria, France, Israel, Luxemburg, Spain, Switzerland, UNECE,
European Centre. The full meeting program, as well as access to the
presentations delivered in the workshop in Jerusalem are now available on-line. You can access them here. |
 News from the United Nations
Following up on the MIPAA
During its 64th session, the General Assembly adopted a
resolution entitled "Follow-up to the Second World Assembly on
Ageing". This report is based on input from Member States, information from regional offices, and the findings of an expert group meeting on the rights of older people convened in May 2009. This document reviews the current situation on the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), and makes recommendations for further action as they pertain to promoting and protecting the rights of older people. While many issues are country-specific, the report notes that there are concrete and immediate steps that can be taken by all Members, including making information on rights more accessible to older people, bolstering mechanisms on monitoring and enforcing rights, and strengthening gender perspectives in all policy actions related to the rights and discrimination of older people. The full text document is available on the UN Programme on Ageing website here. |
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Documenting the IFA in India and Japan
September and October, 2009
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In September and October this
year, the Secretary General and Members of the IFA Board travelled to
Pondicherry, India and Akita, Japan to participate in a Workshop on National
Policy on Older Persons and Affordable Health Care and the International Forum
on Ageing in Place & Age Friendly Cities, respectively. These events
were successful both in terms of the knowledge and experience shared, and
also the opportunities for connection between the IFA and experts, practionners
and decision makers in those countries. The IFA created a brief slide show containing snapshots of some of the friends and colleagues encountered throughout our travels in Asia. You can access it from our website here.
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Recapping the Akita Forum
Initial summary of keynote presentations
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Participants from governments,
civil society, and academia, representing 22 countries, gathered in Akita for
an intensive three day knowledge sharing and networking forum. The outstanding
presentations brought together recent developments and experiences from the age
friendly city movement and policy approaches for ageing-in-place, with
particular emphasis on the need for assistive technologies. We hope that delegates took away lessons that
can be applied to their respective fields.
FOIFA Japan has produced an initial report summarizing the various
activities and events. You can access this preliminary report here.
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The SENIOR
Report on Good Practices:
E-inclusion, ethical
guidance and designing a dialogue roadmap
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 Over the last decade, EU Member
States, the European Commission, industry and NGOs representing users have
undertaken a number of actions to advance e-inclusion for older people in
Europe. A milestone was reached in 2006
with the signing of the Ministerial Riga Declaration on ICT (information and communication
technologies) for an inclusive Information Society. Through this treaty, EU Member
States committed themselves to concrete targets for Internet usage and
availability, digital literacy, and for accessibility of ICT by 2010.
An important element supporting
e-inclusion strategies has been the identification and promotion of good
practices. To this end, the SENIOR
project - a research collaboration between several European NGOs, businesses and universities - was established in 2007 to provide a systematic assessment using dialogue
as the key instrument to evaluate the social, ethical and privacy issues
involved in ICT and ageing. SENIOR will be hosting a conference in Brussels on November 27th on these issues. In anticipation of this event, a comprehensive draft
report including key recommendations was recently distributed. This full document contains plenty of case studies and examples alongside ethical recommendations. Read the full report here.
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Update on Global Ageing
New Edition of the IFA Journal forthcoming
The latest edition of Global Ageing, IFA's journal,
has been published and will be available for IFA members shortly. Members
can expect a hard copy to arrive in the mail within the coming weeks.
Also, the IFA intends to include a PDF version of the journal in full text
under our membership section on the IFA website as soon as the electronic
versions are provided to the IFA by the Editor, Dr Grace Clark. We invite
our members to check online to see what other exciting material can be found. You can find out more information about the IFA journal here. |
Australia leads the world in diagnosis chronic medical conditions
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Australian aged care facilities lead in the world in diagnosing chronic
medical conditions such as dementia and depression among their residents, according to a census from
multinational provider Bupa. The 2009 census was based on 26,647 surveys conducted across the
group's 400 aged care facilities in the UK, Spain, New Zealand and
Australia. Read the full article from the Australian Ageing Agenda here.
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Do you have a piece of news or information that you would like featured in IFA-eNews? Contact us directly! We welcome your suggestions!
Sincerely yours,
The International Federation on Ageing | |
