The UN Programme on Ageing is introducing an informal e-mail newsletter ”UN Network on Ageing”. The purpose of the newsletter is to facilitate the exchange of information between the major partners of the UN Programme on Ageing: national government focal points on ageing; UN system focal points on ageing; intergovernmental organizations; international non-governmental organizations; academia; and practitioners working in the field of ageing.

The newsletter will be prepared and sent out on an ad hoc basis, when news occurs, without strict periodicity. The Programme on Ageing welcomes your comments and encourages the newsletter recipients to inform us about their activities related to ageing and older persons that could be shared with other network participants. The archived newsletters and other relevant information can be retrieved from the web-site of the Progamme on Ageing: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/

The usual format of each article in the newsletter will consist of a brief (100-200 words) description of activity along with a website reference (URL address), as available, directing the reader to a more extensive information on the subject.

The first issue of this e-mail newsletter contains the following information:

(1) During the 44th session of the Commission for Social Development (New York, 8-17 February 2006), the Commission is expected to decide upon the modalities for the five-year review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, including the proposed calendar, format, and theme of the first review and appraisal cycle. For more in-depth information, please access the report of the Secretary-General entitled ‘Modalities for the review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing’ that will be discussed at the Commission for Social Development:
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/

(2) The report of an Interregional Consultation on the review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing that took place in Geneva (26-28 September 2005): http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/documents/agng_gnv_rpt.pdf

(3) Summary of an International Meeting on “The contribution of older persons to the social and economic development” (Madrid, 16-18 November 2005):
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and its Secretariat for Social Services, Families and Disability of Spain organized this meeting as a follow-up to the Second World Assembly on Ageing. The meeting consisted of two plenary sessions and four workshops addressing a wide variety of issues concerning older persons, such as age discrimination and the role of positive images on ageing, active life extension through e.g. employment creation and other ways of active participation, good practices regarding older persons’ integration, and intergenerational solidarity. The participants came from government, inter-governmental organizations, academia and NGOs.
For more information, please direct your Internet server to:
http://www.seg-social.es/imserso/novedades/semint.doc

(4) Workshop on HIV/AIDS and Family Well-being (Bangkok, 6-9 December 2005):
The Policy Workshop was organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs in cooperation with the Population and Social Integration Section of the Emerging Social Issues Division, ESCAP. The overall objective of the Workshop was to contribute to the development of policies and programmes which strengthen the capacity of families and family networks to cope with HIV/AIDS. The report of the Workshop is currently under preparation and will be posted on the web-site of the United Nations Programme on the family: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/family/

The UN Programme on Ageing encourages all recipients of this newsletter to forward it to their partners and to encourage those to forward their contact information to us for continuous updating of our e-mail list.