The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing

The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) offers a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st century. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. This book brings together global perspectives on the MIPAA and focusses on and assesses the success and failures of governments to implement its recommendations.
Despite its pivotal importance in international ageing policy, the MIPAA has been relatively neglected by academics in their writings and studies. This book mitigates this analytical and empirical cavity. Each chapter focuses on one specific geographical region and addresses five key themes: national ageing situation; twenty years of MIPAA; ensuring ageing with dignity; healthy and active ageing in a sustainable world; and priorities for the future. It presents an overall summary of the findings, future challenges and opportunities related to ageing, recommendations for future actions to be taken, and policy adjustments needed. The authors also present lessons that were learnt from managing the impact of COVID-19 on older people, together with an outlook on the most immediate priorities for the future so that the recommendations in the MIPAA are achieved in post-COVID-19 and sustainable ethical scenarios.
An important contribution towards the advancement of ageing policy, the book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gerontology, ageing, and health. It will also be of interest to policy makers, geriatricians, dementia care specialists, social policy makers responsible for ensuring active and healthy ageing, and all public sector departments which have specific responsibilities towards improving the quality of life of older adults.

Marvin Formosa is an Associate Professor in gerontology at the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies, University of Malta. He holds the posts of Chairperson of the National Commission for Active Ageing (Malta), Rector's Delegate for the University of the Third Age (Malta), and Director of the International Institute on Ageing (United Nations Malta). He has published widely in the field of ageing studies, and his most recent publications include The University of Third Age and Active Ageing (2019) and Ageing and COVID-19: Making sense of a disruptive world (-uszczy-ska & Formosa, 2021). Formosa is Malta's Country Team Leader for the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Mala Kapur Shankardass is an academician, researcher, writer and an activist with specialisation in sociology, health social sciences and gerontology. She has recently retired as Professor from University of Delhi, India. She has prestigious assignments to her credit with the United Nations and other international organisations, and has been affiliated with these as an Expert/Consultant and with honorary positions. She is Member of different Committees constituted by a varied Ministries and institutions of Government of India. She has published books, chapters with reputable publishers and has many articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, and is recipient of fellowships and awards for her work on ageing issues.

List of tables List of figures Notes on contributors Foreword by John Rowe & Toni Antonucci Preface PART I HISTORICAL AND FORMATIVE INFLUENCES Chapter 1: Introduction: The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing Marvin Formosa & Mala Kapur Shankardass Chapter 2: The journey to the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing Alexandre Sidorenko Chapter 3: The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing at 20: Assessing progress over the years Ann Pawliczko PART II INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS AND ASSESSMENTS Chapter 4: The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing: Continental and Western Europe twenty years later Marvin Formosa Chapter 5: Challenges and opportunities of Ageing in Eastern European Countries Alexandre Sidorenko Chapter 6: The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in the Middle East and North Africa: Successes and shortcomings Abdulrazak Abyad & Sonia Ouali Hammami Chapter 7: International Plan of Action on Ageing: Implications for the future Samuel M. Mwangi & Caroline M. Mutwiri Chapter 8: The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing: From signpost towards implementation in South(ern) Africa Jaco Hoffman & Manare Naume Maloba Chapter 9: Population ageing in Central Asia: Assessing the progress towards achieving the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing recommendations Marta Mustafina Chapter 10: Du Peng Chapter 11: Challenges for policy and practice Jacqueline W. M. Wong Chapter 12: Assessing the progress Mala Kapur Shankardass Chapter 13: Ageing well in Australasia and Oceania: A region of extremes David Stevens & Andrew Larpent, with support from Phil Saunders Chapter 14: implement the recommendations of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing Pamela B. Teaster, Kathryn Ratliff, E. Carlisle Shealy & Vijeth Iyengar Chapter 15: design and implementation of recommendations in an unequal and heterogeneous context Luis Miguel Gutiérrez-Robledo, Carmen García-Peña, Rosa Estela García-Chanes, Emely Max-Monroy, & Mariana López-Ortega Chapter 16: Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing: The South American experience José R. Jauregui PART III LINKING THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE Chapter 17: Epilogue: Two decades of Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing: Its meaning in the global context and ways forward Mala Kapur Shankardass & Marvin Formosa Index