Professional Organizations
International Associations
Further evidence of the globalization of aging has been the increase of multinational organizations in aging, beginning with the creation of the International Association of Gerontology (IAG) in 1950. The IAG membership comprises national societies from four regions: Asia/Oceania, Europe, Latin America, and North America. The IAG holds a quadrennial meeting to promote gerontological research and cooperation by member organizations in the biomedical, behavioral, and social aspects of aging. It also promotes the training of highly qualified professionals in aging and seeks to protect the interests of gerontological societies and associations. The Sandoz Prize is its major award for research merit.
Other societies are the International Federation on Ageing (IFA), created in 1973, with numerous affiliates around the world composed of professionals advocating on behalf of the elderly in their respective nations, and the International Institute on Ageing (Malta), which conducts education and training for professionals in developing nations, under U.N. auspices. The publications of these two organizations, respectively, are International Aging and Bold. They have strong links with professional societies in the United States and Canada, such as the GSA and CAG, as well as with groups focused on developing programs for the elderly, such as the American Association for International Aging, the International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, and HelpAge, headquartered in England with affiliates in several countries.
As all countries experience larger proportions of older people in the twenty-first century, professional organizations in aging will continue to be established, especially in the developing nations. These associations will maintain their support for programs of research and training to ensure that quality research is conducted and practitioners provide high-quality services to the world's elders.
PHOEBE S. LIEBIG
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Canadian Association of Gerontology. www.cagacg.org
Center for Policy on Aging. CPA World Directory of Old Age. Essex, U.K.: Longman Group, 1989.
DAY, C. L. What Older Americans Think: Interest Groups and Aging Policy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990.
ESTES, C. L. The Aging Enterprise. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1979.
ESTES, C. L. "The Aging Enterprise Revisited." The Gerontologist 33 (1993): 292–298.
JASZCZAK, S., ed. Encyclopedia of Associations, 31st ed. New York: Gale Research, 1997.
KROL, J., ed. Older Americans Information Directory. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.
LIEBIG, P. "Organizations on Aging." In Encyclopedia of Gerontology: Age, Aging and the Aged. Edited by J. Birren. San Diego: Academic Press, 1996.
MADDOX, G. L., ed. Encyclopedia of Aging, 2d ed. New York: Springer, 1992.
PRATT, H. J. The Gray Lobby. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
VAN TASSEL, D. D., and MEYER, J. E. W., eds. U.S. Aging Policy Interest Groups: Institutional Profiles. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.
WALLACE, S. R., and WILLIAMSON, J. B. The Senior Movement: References and Resources. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992.
PROGERIA
See ACCELERATED AGING: HUMAN PROGEROID SYNDROMES; CELLULAR AGING: TELOMERS
Additional topics
Medicine EncyclopediaAging Healthy - Part 3Professional Organizations - Professional Organizations, U.s. Professional Associations, Canadian Professional Organizations, Professional Organizations In Other Nations