Title: IAGG SECRETARIAT: THEORETICAL AND POLICY PERSPECTIVES FOR HEALTHY AGING
Abstract: Populations are aging and most older adults suffer from multiple chronic diseases, raising the risk of functional limitations and dependency. This phenomenon is worldwide, and poses to the world a challenge of poor quality of life and increased healthcare costs. Healthy aging framework is a solution to counter such dismal prospects. Although we should consider diverse aspects of healthy aging, such as physical, cognitive and emotional aging, there has been great progress in understanding healthy aging theoretically, resulting in convergent principles on healthy aging. Despite these converging principles of healthy aging, setting up and implementing policies to enhance healthy aging is a challenge as we should take into account of diversities of the population, community, and environment. In this symposium, the authors will review theoretical aspects of healthy aging, and then will introduce practical applications and experiences of policymaking pertaining to frailty and dementia, two major barriers to healthy aging.