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Age-friendly Environments Knowledge and Action Hubs

A wide range of knowledge is produced every day on healthy ageing, all around the world. Much of this knowledge has the potential to generate real positive change for older people, but this potential is not always realised. For example:

  • Knowledge makers often face challenges reaching those who can best use their knowledge and provide feedback.
  • Knowledge users can find it difficult to identify the most useful knowledge and adapt it to their local contexts. This may cause them to spend unnecessary resources on producing knowledge that might already exist, or implementing activities that are not supported by evidence.

If we want to transform the world to be a better place to grow older, we need to close this gap between making and using knowledge on healthy ageing. This is why the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities is establishing the ‘Age-friendly Environments Knowledge and Action Hubs’.

This page will continue to be updated as more hubs are established and developed.

Frequently asked questions

What are Age-friendly Environments Knowledge and Action Hubs (AFE K&A Hubs)?
Each AFE K&A Hub is a form of working group focused on a specific topic related to age-friendly environments. Every hub is composed of WHO technical staff, experts, academics, and most importantly, interested Global Network members – all working to:
  • bring together the best available knowledge from all sources on a given topic;
  • build awareness and understanding of this knowledge among Global Network members and beyond, through online and in-person Dialogue Series;
  • synthesise this knowledge and adapt it to create knowledge products that can be quickly implemented in local contexts;
  • support the Global Network to implement these products; and
  • refine existing knowledge through feedback and testing in real-world settings.
Why leverage the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities for knowledge and action?
The Global Network represents over 1600 cities and communities across 52 countries who have committed to becoming more age-friendly, brought together by WHO as its Secretariat. This means that through the Global Network:
  • Knowledge makers have easy access to a ‘living lab’ of diverse implementation sites – all eager to access the best knowledge and guidance to implement as policies and practices;
  • Knowledge makers can draw on WHO’s trusted expertise in knowledge production, exchange, and translation at global, regional, and country levels;
  • Knowledge users have a source of trustworthy knowledge that can inform activities aimed at improving the health and well-being of their constituents; and
  • Knowledge users gain the opportunity to directly influence and add to the knowledge base on diverse topics.
Who can join an AFE K&A Hub?
The primary audiences of AFE K&A Hubs are WHO technical staff, experts, academics, and Global Network members. However, anyone who is interested in drawing on or contributing the best available knowledge on a specific topic can express interest in joining a hub.
How can I get involved?
You will find a list of the currently active AFE K&A Hubs and the latest opportunities below.

Active AFE K&A Hubs

Falls prevention

A online dialogue session on what we know about preventing falls in age-friendly cities and communities, and how to do it, is open for registration. Get involved in this hub by joining the discussions:

Date: 27 June 2024 (Thursday)
Time: 9:00 CEST (Session 1); 17:00 CEST (Session 2)

Russian interpretation is available for Session 1. Spanish and Portuguese interpretation is available for Session 2.

Express interest in joining this hub by emailing gnafcc@who.int and lukaszykc@who.int.

Urban and territorial planning

The first meeting of the AFE K&A Hub on urban and territorial planning was held in Helsinki, Finland from 10–11 June 2024.

Participants included representatives from the Finnish Ministry of Environment and SYKE Institute, as well as Global Network members Vicente López (Argentina); CUHK Jockey Club Institute of Ageing – The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Tampere, Vaasa and Vantaa (Finland).

Express interest in joining this hub by emailing gnafcc@who.int.