Active and healthy ageing:

The first Conference of Partners of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing took place in Brussels on 6 November and was attended by Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn, Irish Minister of State Kathleen Lynch, and the Spanish Secretary General of Health and Consumers, Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, María Pilar Farjas Abadía.

 

Participants – representatives of all major stakeholders included in the Partnership - discussed how to implement and scale up innovations for active ageing and the potential  contribution they can make..

Six Partnership Action Groups presented Action Plans tackling a specific challenge in the field of Active Ageing; these groups include 261 commitments by over 3000 stakeholders from all Member States, and the Plans aim to improve the quality of life of four million European senior citizens between now and 2015. 

The six Action Plans address the following areas: 

•  Prescription adherence. Ensuring that patients follow their prescriptions: new approaches to prescription adherence for various chronic diseases in at least 30 EU regions. Today, only 25% of older people with chronic conditions (heart or lung conditions for example, or combinations – multi-morbidity) take their medication correctly at the right times. An effective adherence approach could improve their condition drastically or prevent decline.
•  Fall prevention. Launching and scaling-up programmes for fall prevention and early diagnosis in at least 10 European countries by 2015. Older people sooner or later become prone to falling. Tele-monitoring can help to quickly detect or even prevent falls. By following training programmes and keeping active, older people can prevent falling or recover quicker if it happens.
• Frailty and malnutrition. A program for the prevention of functional decline and frailty among the elderly that will reach at least 1000 care providers by 2015. By supporting people in following a healthy and active regime (diet and exercise), they can live independently in their own homes for longer.
• Integrated care. Deploying, in more than 20 regions, programmes for chronic disease management and integrated care that meet the needs of older persons and enhance system efficiency. With tele-monitoring people with chronic conditions and multi-morbidity (but also their carers) do not have to travel back and forth between doctors, hospitals and care institutions and can monitor and self-manage their own condition and health care choices.
•  Independent living. Improving the uptake of interoperable solutions for independent living that enable people to live independently for longer by providing for social contacts, alarm functionalities, and various household services. Older people can use many ICT applications to prevent loneliness, social isolation or premature admission to a nursing home, provided these are interoperable, well integrated and senior-friendly.
• Age-friendly environments. Implementing innovative age-friendly practices at regional and local level, and fostering physical /environmental innovation and practice, including the use of ICT, whilst also promoting a campaign for a covenant of major cities, regions, and municipalities. Cities, villages and public areas have to change to adapt to the needs of older people: more places to rest, easier access to buildings and safer public spaces. A systematic approach is needed to prevent older people from becoming confined to their own home.

 

The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing will now start the implementation of these 6 Action Plans, with the Commission developing a monitoring framework to report on the progress and impact of the Plans.

Furthermore, 54 regions and municipalities applied to be candidate Reference Sites, to exchange good practice and share their experiences with innovative approaches to active and healthy ageing. Reference site representatives were also present at the conference.

For more information and all conference presentations: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?section=active-healthy-ageing&pg=partners-conference