April 2024

IFA 17th Global Conference on Ageing - YEBO/YES! Action on Ageing: Evidence/Policy/Practice

Save the Date: September 9th to 12th, 2025!

Join us in captivating Cape Town, South Africa, for an enlightening and transformative global conference that will shape the future of aging. The 17th Global Conference on Ageing promises to be an insightful and impactful event dedicated to exploring the diverse dimensions of ageing and its implications on society.

Our conference will serve as a pivotal platform for exploring challenges, solutions and fostering collaboration across the following nine themes:

1. Age-friendly Environments
2. Building Capacity in LMICs: Policy and Good Practice
3. Connecting Ageing and the Economy
4. Family, Intergenerational
5. Healthy Ageing
6. Human Rights
7. Immunization for all Ages
8. Improving Practice through Digital Technologies
9. Long-term Care and Improving Function

Together, let's pave the way for a brighter, healthier, and more inclusive future for all generations. 

Together, let’s be part of something greater. 

Stay tuned for exciting updates on registration, abstract submission, and key dates and highlights for the conference! The IFA is gearing up to provide you with all the necessary information to ensure your participation in this groundbreaking event is seamless and rewarding.

Global Rally on the Rights of Older People: Participate Now!

The Global Rally will be occurring from 8 to 14 April, with the shared purpose of telling governments around the world that it’s time to start drafting a convention on the rights of older people. 

How to Participate:

The Global Rally will consist of a series of unique campaign actions in different time zones over a week-long period between the 8^th and the 14^th of April 2024. 

1) Sign the Petition for a UN Convention

Join over 3000 human rights advocates in signing a petition calling on governments to begin drafting a UN convention on the rights of older persons without delay. 

2) Write to your National Representatives

The IFA, with support of our members, has created draft letters to Australian and Canadian federal ministers as well as generic messaging to send to political representatives. Visit the IFA’s OEWGA webpage to access the letters and share with your politicians!

3) Attend an Event 

A full list of activities will be published on GAROP’s website shortly. You can also see here for a list of GAROP members and directly contact an organization in your country to learn more about their Global Rally activities. 

The Global Rally Summit will be held virtually on 11 April from 9.00am to 10.15am EDT, register here to attend a lively discussion about older people's rights and the progress towards a new UN convention!

4) Register for the IFA’s Global Cafe with GAROP Secretariat Coordinator Ellen Graham and IFA UN Representative Frances Zainoeddin on 5 April

Join the IFA’s weekly Global Cafe webinar on 5 April at 7.00am EDT for a conversation with GAROP Secretariat Coordinator Ellen Graham and IFA UN Representative Frances Zainoeddin on the Age With Rights campaign: Global Rally. Register here for what promises to be an insightful and inspiring Global Cafe session!

5) Engage on Social Media

Use the hashtag #AgeWithRights in social media posts from 8 to 14 April sharing why a convention on the rights of older persons is important to you. Make sure to encourage your followers to sign GAROP’s petition! 

The IFA Led an Expert Meeting in Brussels on Long-Term Care Vaccination Policy

On 25^th of March, 2024, the IFA convened a closed high-level expert meeting in Brussels, with global expert delegates from multiple different sectors and specialties, including from academia, ageing advocacy organizations, public health institutions, chronic diseases advocacy groups, and geriatricians and gerontologists, to deliberate on improving and influencing long-term care (LTC) vaccination.

The ‘Mobilizing Policy Action – Prioritizing Vaccination in Long-Term Care’ expert meeting was a much-needed next step based on the evidence of policy gaps gathered from the IFA’s ‘Improving Adult Vaccination Policy in Long-Term Care Settings’ study.  As uptake rates of adult vaccination in long-term care settings are low on average globally, there are several pressing actions and discussions that were needed to inform how to improve this.  

Alongside expert meeting delegates, IFA pursued several discussions on policy-related issues that are preventing this uptake.  Outcomes from this meeting will result in a roadmap to help mobilize this policy work at national and organizational levels, including the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of progress on the resulting actions. 

Adult Vaccination Health Care Professional (AV-HCP) ECHO Scaling Up Program Technical Report to be Launched

The IFA will soon be launching their technical report on the Adult Vaccination Health Care Professional (AV-HCP) ECHO Scaling Up program, which ran between October to December 2023.  The AV-HCP ECHO Scaling Up program was the second iteration of the AV-HCP ECHO program, which was held by the IFA in 2022.  

This program looked to refine the previous program and essentially through education and advocacy, enable health care providers (HCPs) to become more knowledgeable and confident about adult immunization and engage in advocacy work to influence vaccination policy.  

This report details the educational program itself and its purpose and impact. It also provides a comprehensive summary of expert recommendations developed at the organizational level, which can support HCPs’ advocacy work.  

Additionally, the report also gives ideas of best practices to enhance vaccination uptake that health care providers can incorporate into their work with patients.  

Stay tuned to learn more about the important insights from this report, which will be coming soon on the IFA’s Vaccines4Life (V4L) platform.

Announcing the Launch of the IFA’s Best Practices for Maximizing, Amplifying and Measuring Impact of Successful Immunization Campaigns in Canada Resource

The IFA is thrilled to announce that the Best Practices for Maximizing, Amplifying and Measuring Impact of Successful Immunization Campaigns in Canada resource is now available for download.

To inform the guide the IFA gathered civil society leaders from across Canada to learn about how vaccination is promoted by civil society organizations (CSOs) representing populations at-risk for poor health outcomes following infection from vaccine preventable diseases.

Focusing on the threat of the ‘tripledemic’, caused by the colliding threats of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV, the IFA Best Practices for Maximizing, Amplifying and Measuring Impact of Successful Immunization Campaigns in Canada resource is intended to assist CSOs in Canada towards promoting immunization across the life course.

 IFA Speaks at the 68^th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

UN Representative Dr. Cynthia Stuen delivered IFA’s statement at the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women on 19 March 2024.

Addressing the session theme of accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective,

Dr. Stuen spoke about our obligations to women of all ages to ensure that they have the ability to maintain their intrinsic capacity as they age. See below for the IFA’s oral statement to UN Member States. 

IFA Global Café Archive

If you were unable to attend any of the IFA Global Café sessions, we have great news for you! All past sessions, along with valuable resources and materials, are now accessible on our website. Whether you're interested in exploring specific topics or simply want to catch up on the insightful discussions, you can conveniently view the recorded sessions at your leisure.

We invite you to visit our website to experience the wealth of knowledge and expertise shared by our distinguished speakers and panelists. Don't miss this opportunity to engage with the thought-provoking content from the IFA Global Café series.

Stay up-to-date: Follow the IFA on Twitter today!