Malaysia: Sarawak To Host First ASEAN Conference On Healthy Aging This October

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) -- The first ever ASEAN Conference on Healthy Aging will be conducted in Kuching, Sarawak (east Malaysia) from Oct 10 to 12 which will be attended by global experts in the field. Featuring more than six speakers around the world including Yamaguchi University's professor Takeo Ogawa and World Federation of Occupational Therapist President, Marilyn Pattison, the forum is expected to attract thousands of medical practitioners, ministers, policy makers and also the general public to the Sarawak capital city. Malaysian Healthy Aging Society (MHAS) advisor, Prof Nathan Vytialingam said the conference is an ideal platform to learn from other countries as well as share knowledge with leading experts. "Aging is not a health issue. It is about coping with the combination of social, community, housing as well as employability," he said. The three-day conference will also address the urgent need for geriatricians in the country as currently there are only 27 geriatricians to look after nearly three million elderly Malaysians. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), by 2050, there will be two-billion people aged 60 and older around the world. Asia and Europe are the two main regions which had faced significant increase; noting Malaysia will become an aging nation status by 2035. -- BERNAMA