Extending healthy ageing across the life course: connecting optimal development and healthy ageing: report of the fourth Life Course Network meeting, 18-19 November 2024
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World Health Organization
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x, 53 p.
Promoting healthy ageing across populations requires integrated approaches that link development, health trajectories and well-being from early life to older age, yet practical guidance on operationalizing a life course perspective remains limited. This report presents the outcomes of the fourth WHO Life Course Network meeting, held in November 2024 within an ongoing five-year programme of work (2022–2027), bringing together global experts and stakeholders to review progress and define priorities for advancing a life course approach to health and well-being. It describes discussions structured around research and evidence synthesis, measurement and monitoring, and the development of new working groups to address methodological and policy gaps. The document outlines the meeting’s objectives, including taking stock of progress, facilitating learning across working groups and planning scientific outputs and activities for 2025. It reports advances on systematic reviews, frameworks and indicators, including efforts to define person-centred measures of intrinsic capacity and functional ability across life stages and to strengthen data systems such as longitudinal studies and population surveys. Key challenges identified include gaps in evidence from low- and middle-income countries, difficulties in harmonizing metrics across life stages, and the need to integrate social determinants and equity considerations. The report sets out priority actions for 2025, including finalizing outputs, expanding collaboration and enhancing tools to support national implementation. Intended for researchers, policy-makers and technical partners, it supports the development of coherent, evidence-informed strategies to promote optimal development and healthy ageing across the life course.
Promoting healthy ageing across populations requires integrated approaches that link development, health trajectories and well-being from early life to older age, yet practical guidance on operationalizing a life course perspective remains limited. This report presents the outcomes of the fourth WHO Life Course Network meeting, held in November 2024 within an ongoing five-year programme of work (2022–2027), bringing together global experts and stakeholders to review progress and define priorities for advancing a life course approach to health and well-being. It describes discussions structured around research and evidence synthesis, measurement and monitoring, and the development of new working groups to address methodological and policy gaps. The document outlines the meeting’s objectives, including taking stock of progress, facilitating learning across working groups and planning scientific outputs and activities for 2025. It reports advances on systematic reviews, frameworks and indicators, including efforts to define person-centred measures of intrinsic capacity and functional ability across life stages and to strengthen data systems such as longitudinal studies and population surveys. Key challenges identified include gaps in evidence from low- and middle-income countries, difficulties in harmonizing metrics across life stages, and the need to integrate social determinants and equity considerations. The report sets out priority actions for 2025, including finalizing outputs, expanding collaboration and enhancing tools to support national implementation. Intended for researchers, policy-makers and technical partners, it supports the development of coherent, evidence-informed strategies to promote optimal development and healthy ageing across the life course.