This week Age Friendly Ireland attended an online meeting in Geneva with representatives of Kanagawa led by Decade of Healthy Ageing Ambassador Governor Prefecture Yuji Kuroiwa is an advocate for the 100 year ‘Vibrant Life’ in the super-ageing society . The Kanagawa Prefectural Government implement their own ‘Healthcare New Frontier’ package of policies to improve the health and well-being of citizens as they age which focuses on individual lifestyles and advancing medical technologies.
They discussed the “ME-BYO” concept as the state of mind and body as a continuum of change between healthy and sick. The group showcased work by their School of Health Innovation and promoted the role of innovation and research to develop new technology and solutions e.g.
- The ME-BYO Index smartphone application to screen – includes 15 measurements of lifestyle, cognition, exercise and voice (mental health)
- ‘Recovery’ clothing with platinum mixed into the fibres
The Prefecture has a population of over 9 million and gave an example of an intergenerational community – the Wakabadai Housing Complex which has over 14,000 residents – 7,560 (54% are over 65) whose Vibrant Inochi supports include:
- an active residents association
- sports events
- creative activities e.g. choirs
During the question and answer session they spoke about the need to support social innovation through developing social ecosystems, public investment in research and design and how to make ageing innovation ‘trendy’.
Find out more:
Healthcare New Frontier here: https://japanhpn.org/en/hnf/
Governor Kuriwo is a Decade of Healthy Ageing Ambassador https://www.decadeofhealthyageing.org/topics-initiatives/other-initiatives/healthy-ageing-50/yuji-kuroiwa
