World Health Organisation votes Ireland as First Age Friendly Country

Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador, interviews Catherine McGuigan, Meath County Council Chief Officer, and National Programme Lead, Age Friendly Ireland.

Ira Pastor Comments:

The country of Ireland has become the first country to be acknowledged as "age-friendly" by the World Health Organisation. The World Health Organization (WHO), through their Department of Ageing and Life Course, recently defined this new decade that we have just entered (2020-2030) as “The Decade of Healthy Ageing” and see a major opportunity to bring together governments, civil society, international agencies, professionals, academia, the media, and the private sector for ten years of concerted, catalytic and collaborative action to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities in which they live.

As part of this initiative, they created the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, which represents a growing network, of any city or community that is committed to creating inclusive and accessible urban environments to benefit their ageing populations. A growing number of cities and communities worldwide are striving to better meet the needs of their older residents and the WHO Network was established to foster the exchange of experience and mutual learning between cities and communities worldwide. Cities and communities in the network are of different sizes, and are located in different parts of the world, their efforts take place within very diverse cultural and socio-economic contexts, and they all have the desire and commitment to promote healthy and active ageing and a good quality of life for their older residents. Just recently, in December 2019, the country of Ireland became the first country in the world to become fully affiliated with the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age Friendly Cities & Communities, and now each of Ireland's 31 local government-led programs have an "Age Friendly" strategy and are committed to ensuring that they are more inclusive and supportive of older people as they age by addressing their expressed concerns across a range of interrelated domain areas.

Catherine McGuigan:

We are joined today by Catherine McGuigan, Meath County Council Chief Officer, and National Programme Lead, Age Friendly Ireland, an organization whose goal it was to pursue of a vision that ‘’every county in Ireland will be a great place in which to grow old.’’ The program is part of the WHO inspired movement which aims to make sure that as people age in Ireland, they can continue to: have a real say in what happens in their own lives and what happens in the areas in which they live, enjoy good health, access to high quality services, and a secure and enabling environment, and stay engaged and have opportunities to participate fully in everything that is going on in their cities and counties.

On this show we will hear from Ms. McGuigan About her background, how she became involved in local government administration, and how she took on the coordinating responsibility as National Program Lead for the Age Friendly Ireland program. The importance of countries developing “Age Friendly” strategies in an era of increasing health-spans and lifespans. About the process of setting up the Age Friendly Ireland programme, the details of the programme and its various components, and how it was accomplished without any new money, from within existing local budgets.

Credits: Ira Pastor interview video, text, and audio.

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