Report of the 4th Life Course Network meeting, 18-19 November 2024 - Extending healthy ageing across the life course: connecting healthy development and healthy ageing

Overview

World Health Organization (WHO)’s work on the life course – connecting optimal development and healthy ageing – aims to extend learning on healthy ageing and connect it to other efforts to improve people’s abilities and capacities.

A life course approach includes a good start to life, optimal development (of infants, children, adolescents and youth), adult health and well-being, healthy ageing and a dignified death at any age. This perspective considers the well-being of the whole person, not simply a focus on illness or disease.

The 4th Life Course Network meeting followed three previous meetings in November 2023, and June and December 2022. The WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing (MCA) hosted a virtual meeting in Geneva, 18–19 November 2024, with over 60 participants on both days, including experts leading eight working groups and members of the Life Course Consortium from life course research centres, academics, policy-makers, civil society and representatives from WHO regional offices and other WHO staff.

The meeting comprised four sessions to take stock of progress and facilitate learning across working groups. The meeting ended with concrete proposals to finalize draft papers and other steps through 2025.