Sustainable Ageing: Reimagining Healthy Ageing Through the Lens of Flagship Campaigns

This book uniquely operationalizes "sustainable ageing" as a concept for reimagining ways by which: (1) social and health threats (i.e., climate change events, extreme industrialization, infectious disease outbreak, and war) can constrain the implementation of healthy ageing campaigns or limit their outcomes, and (2) potential transdisciplinary strategies can be rolled out to optimize healthy ageing through the campaigns in contexts experiencing the threats.

The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030 initiative drives major healthy ageing campaigns and encapsulates 10 initiatives for enabling people to maintain health as they age. Worsening social and health threats are, however, hindering the implementation of the campaigns. Consequently, healthy ageing may not be achieved or sustained, even in age-friendly contexts experiencing crises.

Scholars agree these threats will adversely impact public health and an inclusive multidisciplinary approach to healthy ageing is necessary amidst the threats. This book provides an understanding of how healthy ageing should be framed and approached through the campaigns in a world experiencing crises. Among the topics covered are:

• Psychology of “Ageing in Place” Amidst Health and Social Threats: Perspectives on the Decade of Healthy Ageing 
• Climate Change Adaptation for Healthy Ageing
• Research-Practice Gap: Impact on Campaigns and Mitigation Strategies  
• Human Development Pathways for Empowering Older Adults: A Decade of Healthy Ageing Perspective 
• Initiatives to Fight Ageism, Neglect, and Elderly Abuse During Crises: A Healthy Ageing Perspective     

Sustainable Ageing: Reimagining Healthy Ageing Through the Lens of Flagship Campaigns is a timely publication with broad appeal. Each chapter provides empirical evidence or models for improving stakeholders’ understanding of campaign-related healthy ageing programmes, how the programmes are affected by the threats, and what can be done to achieve the core goals in contexts experiencing threats. Students, lecturers, and researchers can use the book as a research guide, whereas public health professionals and organizations can use it to develop or alter policies. Researchers in a wide range of disciplines can design studies based on models and insights from the book.

Nestor Asiamah, PhD, FHEA, is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) and Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research in the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Essex, United Kingdom. He is also a Lecturer at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences and Berlin School of Business and Innovation, which are both in Germany. He is Executive Director and Founding Fellow at the Africa Centre for Epidemiology and leads several international research groups. He reviews for several top journals such as The Lancet and serves as an academic editor for several journals (e.g., BMC Public Health and PLoS ONE). He is a Medical Research Council grant reviewer and has served as a research consultant to the NHS in the United Kingdom.

Hafiz T.A. Khan, PhD is a Professor of Public Health and Statistics at the University of West London, UK. He is also an Associate Professorial Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford. Prof Khan has published several articles in top-tier journals and has played editorial roles in Health Sciences journals. 

Whitney Nesser, PhD, is a Professor and Gerontology Program Director in the Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences at Indiana State University, USA. Her primary focus is on research and teaching about quality of life, aging, and intergenerationology. Her PhD is in Health Education and Promotion from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Frank Frimpong Opuni, PhD, is an Associate Professor in marketing at Accra Technical University, Ghana, and has a PhD in Marketing from the University of Bolton, UK. He serves as Director of Business Development and Founding Fellow at the Africa Centre for Epidemiology. His research interests are social marketing, green marketing, and health marketing. He serves on the editorial board of Social Sciences & Humanities Open (Elsevier) and reviews for Journal of Social Marketing, Transportation Planning and Technology, and BMC Psychology.

Alex Siu Wing Chan, PhD, is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a full member of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Chan is also a Registered Social Worker. His research focuses on promoting social equality and mental health for the LGBTQ community, including areas such as ageing, homosexuality, psychological well-being, HIV/AIDS, and social inclusion/exclusion among LGBTQ individuals. He serves as an associate editor for Frontiers in Public Health and Frontiers in Urology. He is a review editor for Clinical Research in Nephrology and an editorial board member for BMC Public Health.