Cano, Antonio and Dargent, Guy and Carriazo, Ana and López-Samaniego, Luz and Apostolo, Joao and Campos, Elzbieta and Holland, Carol and Varela-Nieto, Isabel and Luz Sánchez-Sánchez, M. and Illario, Maddalena and Iaccarino, Guido and Roller, Regina E. and Goossens, Edwig and Vollenbroek-Hutten, Miriam and Pais, Sandra and Schena, Federico and Musian, Daniele and Alvino, Serena and Maggio, Marcello and Liotta, Giuseppe and Ussai, Silvia and Orfila, Francisco and O’Caoimh, Ronan and Paul, Costança and Pazzi, Stefania and Romano, Valeria and Obbia, Paola (2018) Tackling frailty and functional decline : Background of the action group A3 of the European innovation partnership for active and healthy ageing. Maturitas, 115. pp. 69-73. ISSN 0378-5122
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Abstract
Ageing populations represent a challenge to the sustainability of current healthcare systems. The need to balance these demographic changes with gains in healthy life years and quality of life (QoL) constitutes an additional challenge. Aware of this, the European Commission (EC) launched the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPonAHA) in 2012. The EIPonAHA is an interdisciplinary and cross-sector initiative involving more than 3000 partners with two specific objectives: to increase the healthy life expectancy of Europeans by two years by 2020, while increasing their QoL. The initiatives of the EIPonAHA have been organized according to six thematic action groups (AGs), with the A3 group targeting areas relating to the prevention of functional decline and frailty. In addition to the good practices of partners, there are several on-going collaborative works. The involvement of the EC includes support through an elaborated research programme in which the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA) and the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) are the main funding bodies. Screening approaches and preventive interventions constitute most of the initiatives within the A3 AG. Partners are distributed across five sub-groups according to good practices: i) cognitive decline, ii) food and nutrition, iii) physical activity, iv) caregivers, and v) frailty and functional decline. Regular updates of the progression of both good practices and collaborative works are presented in A3 AG meetings. The 2017 meeting in Valencia, Spain, showcased in this paper, provides an up-to-date overview of the current status of A3 activities.