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Halle (dpa) - According to experts in Germany, research on aging and the life course needs more attention and financial support.
So far those projects that dealt with the development and treatment of diseases that predominantly occur in old age have received funding.
This orientation must be reconsidered, recommends the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences in its report on the subject of “Research for the Years Gained”.
The goal must be to enable a longer and better life for the individual and society as a whole.
This requires closer cooperation between medicine and the social, behavioral and human sciences.
So far, individual phases of life, starting from early childhood, have been researched.
But aging is a lifelong process, with social, psychosocial and cultural changes, explained the scientists.
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Education as well as working and living conditions play a decisive role in determining the quality of aging and how old you can get, the experts explained.
According to their own statements, scientists from seven disciplines worked on the approximately 150-page report for seven years.
The background is demographic change.
Accordingly, there will be more and more elderly people in Germany in the future.
At the same time, average life expectancy has increased.
Compared to countries like England, the Netherlands and the USA, the extensive research on aging and the life course is insufficient.
Germany is decades behind in the field of age and life research, explained one of the authors of the report.
It is important to bundle and exchange knowledge in competence centers.
In addition, more and more scientists should be enthusiastic and encouraged for such research over a long period of time.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201216-99-719953 / 2
Research for the Years Gained: Future of Aging and Life Course Research in Germany (2020)