The Special Interest Group on Healthy Ageing, in collaboration with the Swedish National Institute of Public Health has produced a report entitled "Healthy Ageing in Europe - lessons learnt and ways forward'. The purpose of the report is to help increase knowledge about different initiatives taken in order fulfill the recommendations on policy, practice and research from the Healthy Ageing project and to prepare for the next step forwards in the field of Healthy Ageing. For the full report please click here
Background
The Special Interest Group on Healthy Ageing (SIG HA) has been set up to further develop the work of the EU-funded Healthy Ageing project which was formally completed in 2007
In the framework of EuroHealthNet the group continues European cooperation with experts from 12 member States representing 14 organisations. The main objective is to keep "Healthy Ageing" on the agenda of government and public health institutions and others accountable for public health and health promotion. This will be done by promoting existing Healthy Ageing project outputs, in particular the set of recommendations, by organising workshops and advancing knowledge about the topic. The group was lead by the Stockholm Center for Public Health until March 2009. EuroHealthNet member NHS Health Scotland took over the lead from April 2009 on.
Members of EuroHealthNet and IUHPE as well as former members from the Healthy Ageing Project are welcome to join the SIG.
For more information about the SIG HA you can contact:
Gary Wilson (lead) NHS Health Scotland
Caroline Costongs EuroHealthNet
Publications
The Special Interest Group on Healthy Ageing has produced numerous publications as a result of the Healthy Ageing Project, along with several key reports following up from the project.
Healthy Ageing: A Challenge for Europe.
This Summary outlines the challenges faced by an ageing Europe and identifies key actions for Healthy Ageing.
Recommendations for future Healthy Ageing work in Europe.
To achieve the aims of this project and to take the work on healthy ageing forward recommendations have been developed. This document outlines future actions in this field.
Activities in 2009
This year the work of the Special Interest Group will concentrate on participating in two major conferences within the Swedish EU Presidency (July - December 2009).
In collaborative work with the Swedish National Institute of Public Health the SIG will prepare a workshop at the "Conference on Healthy and Dignified Ageing" on 15-16 September and will organise the "Conference on Healthy Ageing" on 22-23 October. To prepare the latter event, the Swedish National Institute of Public Health and the SIG carried out a follow-up survey on how healthy ageing work has proceeded in EU Member States which participated in the 2004-2007 EU Healthy Ageing project. The outcomes of this survey will be published here when available as well as the agenda of both presidency events.
As part of this conference, the participants drew up key messages on policy, practice and research to be adopted by the European Commission to serve as a background when the Commission prepares the upcoming communication on ageing and health. During this conference, many good practice examples, from across the EU, were presented; this served as a good base for in-depth discussions with expert stakeholders, which lead to strong policy recommendations.
Please click here for the full report (opens in new window)
Activities in 2008
Activities in 2008 focussed on the fields "lifestyle" and "equity". The SIG organised 3 workshops, which further refined and tested the recommendations of the Healthy Ageing project:
Workshop 1: "Using the (EU Health) strategy to promote equitable healthy ageing" at the joint EuroHealthNet and IUHPE policy seminar "Implementing the new EU Health Strategy", Brussels, 13 March 2008
Workshop 2: "Never too late to invest in health" at the 9th Nordic Public Health Conference, Östersund / Sweden, 9-12 June 2008
Workshop 3: "Health later in life - a participatory approach to promote physical activity for older people in order to maintain a dignified and independent life" at the 8th IUHPE European Conference on Health Promotion and Education, Turin / Italy, 9-13 September 2008
Furthermore the members of the Special Interest Group contributed to the consensus paper "Mental Health in Older People" which was developed as background information paper for the EU high-level conference "Together for Mental Health and Wellbeing", Brussels, 13 June 2008. please click here for the consensus paper
The 2008 work of the SIG is compiled in a report which can be found here.
Please find a short summary about the members of the SIG and its work in 2008 here.
