The 21st Century Trust, (in association with the Stifterverband für die
Deutsche Wissenschaft, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the UK Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic
Research, Rostock) will be holding a conference on health policy
implications of ageing populations. The event will take place in Rostock,
Germany, from 28 October to 3 November 2007. The synopsis, included below,
is also available at:
http://www.21stcenturytrust.org/2007.html#2
Those wishing to attend should do so online at:
http://www.21stcenturytrust.org/apply.html
Details on costs are available at:
http://www.21stcenturytrust.org/finance.html
Please note that, for this event, because of a generous donation from the UK
Foreign Office, British participants will not need to pay the conference fee.
For further information, please contact Dr Paul Kielstra, email:
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Dr Paul Kielstra
Senior Associate
21st Century Trust
Synopsis: Populations are ageing worldwide with few exceptions: the world
percentage of those over 65 is set to rise from 6.9% to 12% by 2030, with
the developing world, if anything, experiencing changes to an even greater
degree. This will induce societal shifts on a grand scale from the
political issues most resonant for voters, through the nature of business
markets, to the areas of deepest focus for NGOs and society at large which
will tax the ingenuity of the current and rising generation of leaders and
thinkers. Among a host of areas, health care, already undergoing technology
and cost upheavals, will see some of the biggest changes. Pressing relevant
issues include: the degree of demographic shift; its real impact as older
individuals might be healthier and behave more like younger ones; changing
disease loads, both the shift to chronic care, and the arrival of new
viruses from HIV/AIDS to bird flu; increasing demands from better informed
patients which in some cases expand the boundaries of medicine itself;
finding resources to pay for already rocketing medical costs, especially
when a smaller percentage of the population remains in full-time employment;
the changing roles of public and private sectors both in developed countries
and in fast-developing ones which are likely to see rapid expansion of the
latter; the effects on medical provision of technological advance,
globalization and the rise of the Asian economies; and the ongoing challenge
of finding enough trained medical personnel. This conference will use a
scenario-building approach to try to examine different outcomes in these
areas in order to help participants better grasp the nature of the long-term
challenge which will face us over the coming decades. On the skillful
navigation of these challenges by both current leaders and their
successors will depend our physical and even financial health.
Senior Fellow: Professor James Vaupel, Executive Director (to summer 2007)
of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock.
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