GLOBAL AND EUROPEAN RESEARCH PRIORITIES FOR EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY ON AGEING

Abstract

This review article attempts to identify the most promising approaches and models for bridging the gap between research and policy on ageing. The overall goal of the presented analysis of the international experience in elaborating evidence informed policy on ageing is to promote such experience in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Formulating the policy relevant research priorities is essential for ensuring the evidence basis in developing, implementing and monitoring policy actions on ageing. Methodologically this article is an analytical review of international policy documents and research initiatives on ageing. It examines the global (United Nations and World Health Organisation) and the European Union experience for the sources of potential models for advancing the national policy on ageing. The review focuses on the research components of the major international policy frameworks on ageing such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing (1982), the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (2002), and the conceptual documents on ageing elaborated by the World Health Organisation. The analysis of the research priorities on ageing formulated in the global and European Union policy documents as well as in the European programmes and projects on research and innovations, reveals the universal prevalence of the social, biomedical (health and care) and economic priorities. During the current decade, active ageing has become the principal content of the policy on ageing in various parts of the world. The author contends that bridging the prevailing gaps between research and policy processes requires reciprocal actions by major national stakeholders, most importantly by academia researchers and policy makers. Such reciprocity requires aligning the research projects with major policy endeavors in order to provide evidence basis for policy actions. The main conclusion of the article asserts that evidence informed policy would help to prevent the reckless manipulations of public opinion and the distortion of policy content during the current upsurge of populism and ignorance.

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