4-Day International Workshop on Health Care for Older Population: Learning from Indo-Canadian Experiences

Chandigarh, April 22, 2019: 4-Day International Workshop on Health Care for Older Population: Learning from Indo-Canadian Experiences will be held at ICSSR Complex, Panjab University, Chandigarh from April 24 to April 27, 2019 under Shastri Programme Development Grant awarded by Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI), New Delhi.
An International Plan of Action focusing on the economic, psychological and healthcare concerns on the elderly persons was produced in the First World Assembly on Ageing held in Vienna(Austria) in 1982. In order to assess the progress of implementation of the Vienna Plan of Action during the twenty years, since its declaration, the Second World Assembly on Aging was organized in Madrid (Spain) in 2002. It not only reviewed barriers in the way of the Vienna Plan of Action but also responded to opportunities and challenges of population aging in the 21st Century. The ultimate objective of the strategy recommended was to promote the development of “a society for all ages” and to respond to challenges of population aging. In India, in 2011 the population aged 60 yrs and above was 8.6 per cent i.e. more than 100 million. It is likely to be around 20 per cent by 2050, as per the UN projections. The today’s relatively young population will turn into society with 300 million older persons. The main features of aged population in India may be characterized as: a) large concentration of older persons in rural areas; b) older women are numerically larger in number than their male counterparts; c) about one-third of the elderly population is below the poverty line; and d) the number of oldest old i.e. more than 80 yrs is increasing very rapidly.
With such a scenario, there is going to be a great challenge requiring availability, accessibility and affordability of health services; social care; security and social integration of older population. It is in this context that the present workshop is being organized to understand delivery of healthcare and social care through health care institutes, old age homes and home care under the leadership of Prof. Mark Rosenberg, Canada Research Chair in Development Studies, Queen's University, Canada.
The workshop intends to engage health care professionals, faculty and research scholars from recognised academic institutions, social workers; post-graduate students; volunteers from NGOs; older people including residents of institutional care homes.
Objectives of the workshop are as under:
• To gain an understanding of global trends in aging and health and how Canadian and Indian experiences compare to the global trends.
• To gain an understanding of trends in aging and health within Canada and India and what this will mean for the delivery of health for the older populations of Canada and India.
• To understand delivery of health and social care to the older population provided through institutional care system based on Indo-Canadian trends/experiences.
To gain an understanding of the best practices in the delivery of health and social care for the older population based on Canadian and Indian experiences.