Dear colleagues,

On behalf of Finland, I suggest the following ranking:

1.       Older persons in emergency situations– lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic 

2.       Ageing in the digital era

3.       Mainstreaming ageing

4.       Preventing and mitigating inequalities in old age

 

Best Regards

Satu

 

 

 

Dear members of the Working Group on Ageing,

We hope that our message finds you all in good health and coping reasonably well with the new work & life realities brought to us by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As agreed at the WGA meeting in November, we are sending you today 4 proposed topics for this year’s Policy Seminar on Ageing to be held on 18 November 2020.

Please let us know your ranking in order of preference by simple return email at your earliest convenience and no later than Friday 17 April. The results of this survey will be presented to the Bureau of the WGA who will decide on the topic for the Policy Seminar at the (virtual) Bureau meeting on 27-28 April.

Wishing you all the best during this difficult period.

*******************************

UNECE Policy Seminar on Ageing 2020 – Proposed topics

Topic 1: Older persons in emergency situations– lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic

The region is facing an unprecedented public health challenge in preventing the spread of the novel Coronavirus Covid-19 and protecting and treating those at highest risk of developing severe illness and dying from the disease which are older persons and those with pre-existing medical conditions. The policy seminar can provide a dedicated space for experience exchange on how member States have been dealing with the challenges for their older population and what lessons have been learnt across different action areas including maintaining health and care services for older persons, protecting older people at home and in residential care, managing access to essential services during confinement, protecting human rights, drawing on the expertise of older persons and fostering intergenerational solidarity. The policy seminar would be informed by Policy Brief No. 25 which will be developed during the summer/autumn of this year. Its focus on older persons in emergency situations is very timely and will include the Covid-19 outbreak among other types of emergencies.

Topic 2: Ageing in the digital era

New technology and digital services affect key areas of every-day lives such as healthcare, social life, leisure, administrative issues and autonomy. As an increasing number of services is digitalized, older persons, who may not be familiar with new technologies and/or may not have access to computers and the Internet and may be excluded, a challenge generally referred to as a “digital divide”. Through the current Covid-19 crisis the critical importance (and benefits) of digitalisation has come to the fore. From one day to the other, entire companies have shifted to teleworking arrangements necessitating quick learning of digital tools for remote working, entire populations have had to cut social contacts and remain confined at home. Online shopping and food delivery, the benefits of digital communication tools for maintaining social connections illustrate the importance of overcoming the prevailing digital divide to ensure that older persons can equally benefit from the opportunities that digitalisation holds. The policy seminar would inform the policy brief on the same topic planned for the first half of 2021.

Topic 3: Mainstreaming ageing

At the Working Group Meeting in November, a full draft of the new guidelines on mainstreaming ageing will be presented and discussed by the WGA. The Policy Seminar could provide the opportunity for a one-day in-depth presentation of the new guidelines, the sharing of nationally developed mainstreaming tools and methods and joint brainstorming on how these could be introduced and used at national level, preparing the launch and related capacity-building activities at regional and national level in 2021.

Topic 4: Preventing and mitigating inequalities in old age

As the OECD 2017 report on Preventing ageing unequally has shown, inequalities have an impact on the experience of ageing and the ability to age actively and healthily. In many societies, inequalities are growing. What impact will this development have on the ability of older persons to age with dignity? How can inequalities in old age be prevented or mitigated? Policy Brief No. 23 on Gender Equality in Ageing societies has discussed the accumulation of disadvantage from a gender and life course perspective and can inform the discussions. The policy seminar could look at inequalities more broadly as well as the intersections between them (socio-economic, migration background, disability).

 

Population Unit, Statistical Division

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe