October 01, 2007 | Press Release

Conference "Population and Health: facing up to the future"

Where: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock
When: 28 October - 3 November 2007

In Partnership with the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Rostock Centre for the Study of Demographic Change and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock

Populations are ageing worldwide with few exceptions: the world percentage of those over 65 is set to rise from 6.9% to 12% by 2030, with the developing world, if anything, experiencing changes to an even greater degree. This will induce societal shifts on a grand scale – from the political issues most resonant for voters, through the nature of business markets, to the areas of deepest focus for NGOs and society at large – which will tax the ingenuity of the current and rising generation of leaders and thinkers. Among a host of areas, health care, already undergoing technology and cost upheavals, will see some of the biggest changes. Pressing relevant issues include: the degree of demographic shift; its real impact as older individuals might be healthier and behave more like younger ones; changing disease loads, both the shift to chronic care, and the arrival of new viruses from HIV/AIDS to bird flu; increasing demands from better informed patients which in some cases expand the boundaries of medicine itself; finding resources to pay for already rocketing medical costs, especially when a smaller percentage of the population remains in full-time employment; the changing roles of public and private sectors both in developed countries and in fast-developing ones which are likely to see rapid expansion of the latter; the effects on medical provision of technological advance, globalization and the rise of the Asian economies; and the ongoing challenge of finding enough trained medical personnel. This conference will use a scenario-building approach to try to examine different outcomes in these areas in order to help participants better grasp the nature of the long-term challenge which will face us over the coming decades. On the skillful navigation of these challenges – by both current leaders and their successors – will depend our physical and even financial health.

Senior Fellow: Professor James Vaupel, Executive Director (to summer 2007) of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock

Confirmed Speakers: Professor Thomas Kirkwood, Co-director, Institute of Ageing and Health, University of Newcastle; Professor Dr. Gabriele Doblhammer-Reiter, Co-Director, Rostock Centre for the Study of Demographic Change; Professor Dr. Hilke Brockmann, Professor of Sociology, International University of Bremen; Deborah Roche, Senior Adviser, Strategy Unit, UK Dept of Health; Richard Smith, United Health Europe; Dr Shereen El Feki, until recently healthcare correspondent of The Economist; Prof Johannes Löwer, Paul Ehrlich Institute for Sera and Vaccines

Further information: http://www.21stcenturytrust.org/2007.html

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The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.