ILIA STAMBLER: Aging is excluded from the WHO work program - Update and further action
From: Ilia Stambler
Dear friends,
I wanted to update you on the issue of the exclusion of the subject of aging health and any measures for its improvement from the WHO Work Program for 2019-2023 and the advocacy campaign that has been waged to introduce these issues into the WHO Work Program.
In this campaign, we address to WHO the demand to include aging health and R&D for healthy longevity via the open public consultation that WHO now conducts about the program, in the link below. The consultation form is easy to use, and the deadline for the comments is through Nov. 29 http://www.who.int/about/gpw-
I wanted to update you that, so far, it looks like our joint advocacy efforts with the WHO had some effects. About 90% of the WHO consultation responses (of over 400 by Nov. 19 and more are coming in) were about the lack of aging in the WHO program. And following those comments, as the "proposed action" WHO apparently plans to commit to including WHO's earlier "Global Strategy and Action Plan on Aging and Health - GSAP" in its work program (including GSAP strategic objective 5 "Improving measurement, monitoring and research on Healthy Ageing").
(Of course, that is just partial information, mainly according to the WHO Presentation
http://www.who.int/
It is still too early to make any definite conclusions. We will still need to watch the process for the long run, and respond accordingly.)
But apparently some contribution was made. Thank you very much for your involvement and effort!
That is just a start. We can still advocate with WHO for the strong emphasis on aging health and R&D for healthy longevity through May 2018 (when the work program is submitted to the WHO assembly).
Even now you are welcome to continue responding to the WHO consultation, and emphasize the importance of aging health and biomedical aging research, as the deadline was again extended through Nov. 29, if you have not yet done so. http://www.who.int/about/
Please also spread the word (also in the media and social media, as mass media ignores this topic, even though this issue relates basically to everybody). We must make the need to promote aging health overwhelmingly clear to WHO (>95%)!
Thanks again!
Ilia Stambler, PhD
Chairman. Israeli Longevity Alliance. CSO. Vetek (Seniority) Association – the Senior Citizens Movement (Israel)
Outreach coordinator. International Society on Aging and Disease (ISOAD)
Longevity for All
See more details on this campaign below. See especially the joint position statement, from leaders of several aging research and care advocacy associations, entitled "Aging health and R&D for healthy longevity must be included into the WHO Work Program" published in Aging and Disease. 9(1):1-3, 2018. Available on line:
Ilia Stambler, PhD
Chair. Israeli Longevity Alliance / CSO. Vetek (Seniority) Association – The Senior Citizens Movement (Israel) http://www.
Coordinator. Longevity for All http://www.
Author. Longevity History. A History of Life-Extensionism in the Twentieth Century ; Longevity Promotion: Multidisciplinary Perspectives http://
*PHOTO DI REPERTORIO .. ILIA STAMBLER