Sharing and identifying new research ideas in Taiwan

Population ageing is a global phenomenon.  Wherever you go in the world, improved living conditions and healthcare have led to people living healthier for longer.  This affects different parts of the world in different ways, and at different rates.

Taiwan is defined, in population terms, as a super-aged society, with one in five people aged 65 or older in 2025 – approximately the same as the UK.  Taiwan is a high tech country, forging the way in technology enabled care.   The British Geriatrics Society played an important role in establishing geriatric medicine in Taiwan when it contributed, over several years in the early 2000s, to the training of geriatricians working withing the Taiwanese Veterans Association.  The two countries therefore have a long track record of working together around care for older people.

In June, ACHA Professor Adam Gordon travelled to Taiwan to give the Keynote speech at the Taiwanese Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting in Taipei.  He spoke about recent challenges in health and social care and how health professionals and academics  have worked with members of the public and policymakers to implement evidence-based approaches to older people.

In a separate keynote speech in the Southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, Prof Gordon shared the ACHA vision as a new and revolutionary way of delivering research into ageing working closely with communities and service providers.  He identified opportunities for collaboration with Taiwanese academic in both cities that we’ll be exploring through ACHA in the coming months.

As a final part of the trip, Prof Gordon visited a social prescribing initiative (pictured), where older people living with physical or mental health issues, could attend dedicated sessions at Taipei Botanical Gardens and the National Museum of History.  Here they could take in programmes carefully designed to help with their physical or mental health.

There’s much to learn from how professionals in different countries work with older people, and wider communities, to implement improvements to health and wellbeing.  ACHA will continue to work to take the best of what we’re doing in North East London to international audiences, whilst aiming to bring the best of learning from other places back to the UK.