KUCHING: About 500 delegates from the ASEAN region, Japan and as far as the United Kingdom and the United States are in Kuching to attend the 1st ASEAN Conference on Healthy Ageing organised by the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society (MHAS) in collaboration with the Sarawak Convention Bureau.
The conference theme d “Ageing –Challenges, Success and The Journey Ahead” is a platform for stakeholders in the region to discuss the way forward in managing the issues and challenges of rapidly ageing populations in the region.
Populations in Asia are ageing faster than other regions. Between 2015 and 2034, the older populations will grow by about 22 per cent every five years in East Asia. According to the “Live Long and Prosper: Ageing in East Asia and Pacific” report, by 2060, one of five of the world’s oldest countries will be in East Asia compared to just one in 25 in 2010.
“The 1st ASEAN Conference on Healthy Ageing seeks to discuss in depth the issues and challenges of ageing in the region and put forward recommendations to address them so that nations can prepare for the impacts of these demographic changes as early as possible”, Organising Chairman, Professor Nathan Vytialingam said at the opening ceremony.
Clinicians from various disciplines, allied health professionals, the legal fraternity, financial instituitions, insurers, pharmaceutical companies, policy makers, and housing developers are among the stakeholders attending the three-day conference that will include plenaries, workshops, forums and symposia in its scientific programme.
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas represented the Chief Minister at the launching of the conference at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.
