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The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Federal Minister to deliver Opening Address at #IFA2018
The IFA is proud to announce that the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development for the Government of Canada, is delivering the opening address at the IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing.
As part of the mandate of the Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development, Minister Duclos is responsible for prioritizing the interests and enhancing the lives of Canadians across the life course, including older Canadians, through programs such as Old Age Security (OAS) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP)and the Homeless Partnering Strategy among many other portfolios.
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Spotlight on Senior Students
"Older students have a lifetime of resources to draw on; they bring so much experience to the classroom." These wise words of wisdom come from Laurie Norris, 66, a "senior student" who quickly reached out to the IFA after she read the IFA's profile of Olive Bryanton, the 80-year-old PhD candidate in the
April edition of VoltAge.
Calling herself a 'lifelong learner,' Ms. Norris is currently pursuing her MSc in Gerontology at the University of Southampton in England. Based out of New York City, Ms. Norris is one of 40 'distance learners' from around the world who are enrolled in the program.
Although she is quick to admit that it is a significant amount of work, between reading, research and participating in online discussions, Ms. Norris encourages other older people to consider enrolling in similar programs, as she calls her work a "support system for your brain."
"Whatever your age," Ms. Norris believes, "you should keep expanding your worldview through any means possible."
Ms. Norris credits her continued interest in learning to her late husband Clarence Pearson, a former director of the board for the IFA, who mentored many other people to foster their love of learning, as well as encouraged Ms. Norris to return to school to pursue her own interests.
The IFA is looking to profile other senior students, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. If you are over sixty-five years of age and attending a post-secondary institution and would like to be profiled in an upcoming edition of VoltAge, please contact Kate MacRae at
[email protected]
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IFA's Global Think Tank on Ageing - Cognitive Reserve
The International Federation on Ageing (IFA), in collaboration with DaneAge,
convened its 2nd IFA Global Think Tank on Ageing the 24-25 April, 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The area of focus this year was Cognitive Reserve.
This international, high-level knowledge exchange platform was attended by thirteen world experts from Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. Their many insightful contributions and rich discussions throughout the Think Tank offered valuable information on: the concept of cognitive reserve and its implications; the importance of cognitive reserve in later life; current evidence and the application of cognitive reserve; and implementation of cognitive reserve in policy and practice.
Among the attending experts was Dr. Islene Araujo de Carvalho, Senior Policy and Strategy Adviser, World Health Organization (WHO) who is responsible for providing global strategic leadership on issues relating to health systems and older person centered and integrated care; and developing relevant policy, clinical standards, interventions and tools. Of special note was the exploration of future work on cognitive reserve within the context of the WHO led Integrated Care for Older People - ICOPE Programme.
While cognitive reserve is a highly complex concept, difficult to operationalize and measure, it was agreed that the outcomes of the Think Tank would be reflected in three main ways: an ad hoc committee will be established to guide the development of a consensus paper which may lead to an editorial in an academic publication; intelligence gathered during the meeting will inform the IFA Copenhagen Summit to be convened in early 2018; and WHO and attending experts will explore the opportunities to develop a set of tools to improve cognitive reserve as part of the ICOPE Programme. For more information about Cognitive Reserve click here and the Copenhagen 2017 Summit click here.
For more information about Cognitive Reserve,
click
here
and to learn more about Copenhagen 2017 Summit, click
here
.
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The latest WHO / IFA webinar was a great success! The second in a series of webinars in the field of age-friendly environments (AFEs), the "WHO Core Indicators of Age-Friendliness" webinar was presented by Dr. Megumi Kano of the World Health Organization Centre for Health Development (Kobe Centre).
This webinar familiarized participants with the WHO guide to "
Measuring the Age-Friendliness of Cities: A Guide to Core Indicators," and underscored Dr. Kano's knowledge of the core indicators for age-friendly cities. The webinar also encouraged contributors to ask questions and share ideas related to AFEs. Handouts for the webinar can be sourced by clicking
here and sample questions from the webinar can be sourced
here.
To read the full blog, click
here
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World Immunization Week 2017
World Immunization Week (WIW) is a campaign spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), which took place from 24 - 30 April 2017. The goal of WIW is to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination across the life course and to examine progress on the
WHO Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and the
third
WHO 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of "Good Health and Well-Being," of which expanding access to vaccination is a key component. Both documents highlight disparities in access to and awareness of vaccines, and support work being done to build better global health infrastructure to close the vaccination gap.
This year's WIW theme was #VaccinesWork, a theme that underscored ground-breaking vaccine developments that have, and continue to, take place. This theme was also a channel through which the IFA drew attention to the marked effect of vaccine-preventable diseases on older people and showcased the work of the World Coalition on Adult Vaccination members.
The collaboration of organizations working to support advances in vaccination is vital to continued work on vaccination policies. The IFA values all organizations who participated in WIW 2017 by sharing the @vaccines4life Twitter posts or by creating their own.
The IFA welcomes requests by organizations to join the Coalition, which can be sent to [email protected]. To find out more about the World Coalition on Adult Vaccination, click here.
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STOP THE PRESSES - Reduction in Conference Registration Fees
The IFA is pleased to announce that a ruling by the Canadian Revenue Agency has resulted in a reduction of registration fees for early bird delegates. For those who have already paid their registration fee, you will be receiving a reimbursement in the coming months.
To c
heck out the new and even more affordable registration fees, click here.
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IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing
The IFA invites all NGO's, government, industry, academics and individuals with an invested interest in ageing to the IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing in Toronto, Canada on 8-10 August, 2018.
Do not miss the opportunity to hear Key Note Speakers Dr Andres Lozano, Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Key Note Speaker and Prof Goldie Nejat, the Director of the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the University of Toronto present on some the ground-breaking innovative technology in the field of ageing.
Registration and Abstract Submission are both NOW OPEN for #ifa2018!
To register for the conference, click
here
To submit an abstract, click here*
*NB Delegates must register for the conference to submit an abstract but payment is not required.
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