The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing: Global Perspectives

The United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) offers a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st century. It focuses on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments. This book brings together global perspectives on the MIPAA and focusses on and assesses the success and failures of governments to implement its recommendations.

Despite its pivotal importance in international ageing policy, the MIPAA has been relatively neglected by academics in their writings and studies. This book mitigates this analytical and empirical cavity. Each chapter focuses on one specific geographical region and addresses five key themes: national ageing situation; twenty years of MIPAA; ensuring ageing with dignity; healthy and active ageing in a sustainable world; and priorities for the future. It presents an overall summary of the findings, future challenges and opportunities related to ageing, recommendations for future actions to be taken, and policy adjustments needed. The authors also present lessons that were learnt from managing the impact of COVID-19 on older people, together with an outlook on the most immediate priorities for the future so that the recommendations in the MIPAA are achieved in post-COVID-19 and sustainable ethical scenarios.

An important contribution towards the advancement of ageing policy, the book will be indispensable to students and researchers of gerontology, ageing, and health. It will also be of interest to policy makers, geriatricians, dementia care specialists, social policy makers responsible for ensuring active and healthy ageing, and all public sector departments which have specific responsibilities towards improving the quality of life of older adults.

Marvin Formosa is an Associate Professor in gerontology at the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies, University of Malta. He holds the posts of Chairperson of the National Commission for Active Ageing (Malta), Rector’s Delegate for the University of the Third Age (Malta), and Director of the International Institute on Ageing (United Nations - Malta). He has published widely in the field of ageing studies, and his most recent publications include The University of Third Age and Active Ageing (2019) and Ageing and COVID-19: Making sense of a disruptive world (Luszczyńska & Formosa, 2021). Prof. Formosa is Malta’s Country Team Leader for the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). ORCID: 0000-0001-9222-2433.

Mala Kapur Shankardass is an academician, researcher, writer and an activist with specialisation in sociology, health social sciences and gerontology. She has recently retired as Professor from University of Delhi, India. She has prestigious assignments to her credit with the United Nations and other international organisations, and has been affiliated with these as an Expert/Consultant and with honorary positions. She is Member of different Committees constituted by a varied Ministries and institutions of Government of India. She has published books, chapters with reputable publishers and has many articles in journals, magazines and newspapers, and is recipient of fellowships and awards for her work on ageing issues. ORCID: 0000-0002-9952-4765.