“Turning Silver into Gold: Capacity Building Workshop for Starting Community-Based Integrated Care“:

An activity of the National Institute of Public Health as a WHO Collaborating Centre

Abstract

As part of the activities of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre, “Turning Silver into Gold: Capacity Building Workshop for Starting Community-Based Integrated Care” was held from September 25 to September 29, 2023, at the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH). The purpose of the workshop was to share practical experiences of initiatives for healthy and active ageing societies, such as social prescribing and community care, within the framework of community-based integrated care with the member countries of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region (WPRO). The program included information sharing on ageing-related measures in each country, lectures and exercises by experts, and site visits. It became clear that countries in the WPRO region have different rates of ageing, and different levels of progress in implementing measures related to healthy and active ageing, as well as different priorities for each country. The workshop provided an opportunity for the representatives of each country to share and recognize these differences, to gain an objective view of the current situation in their countries, and to use this as a reference for policies for the older adults. It is expected that the lessons learned from this workshop will be applied to countries that are facing full scale ageing in the future, and that Japan, as an advanced country in the field of ageing, can make the field of ageing policy a pillar of international cooperation in the health field.