Healthy Aging: Insights for Research and Policy

In times of health reform, fiscal restraint and population aging, it becomes increasingly imperative to understand what must be done to better link research and policy in the health area. In this paper, the major determinants of healthy aging are discussed in terms of current conceptual frameworks of health, measurement, methodologies, and data sources. In order to maximize the benefits for the health of current and future Canadian seniors, policy recommendations are made to Statistics Canada, Health Canada, and the Seniors Independence Research Program (SIRP) which cover a range of issues related to measurement and data sources, health services, health status, economic status, and education. Coauthors are J. Dawe, R. Evans, V. Marshall, P. Clarke, D. Norris, J. Hagey, E. Shapiro, R. Wilkins, and B. Havens.