The International Institute of Ageing (INIA), United Nations, Malta in collaboration with Heritage Hospitals of Hyderabad is organizing a training programme in social gerontology and geriatrics from 19 to 30 January. This is INIA’s fifth such programme in the country.

The training is being imparted to health professionals, doctors, social workers, trainers in the field of ageing and geriatrics from India and abroad. The faculty includes Phoebe Liebeg, Andrus Gerontology Centre, University of South California, Los Angles; Prof Frederick Fenech, director, INIA; Prof Joseph Troisi, deputy director, INIA.

Other key members in the faculty are: Dr AB Dey, chief, Geriatric Services and additional professor, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; and Dr Raja Gopal Dhar Chakraborti, reader and formerly Head Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, Calcutta University and visiting professor, The Centre of Ageing Research and Institute of Population Research Renmin (People’s) University of China.

This multi-disciplinary training programme is designed by an international expert group with the aim to provide broad and latest knowledge on the consequences of mass longevity. The objective of this programme is to stimulate discussion and understanding the relationship between health and longevity from a life-course perspective.

Established in1988 as a result of UN/ECOSOC Resolution 1987/41 and an agreement between UN and Government of Malta, INIA works with UN Population Fund. It organizes annually four courses that focus on social gerontology, economic and financial aspects of ageing, geriatrics and demographic aspects of population ageing as well as a nine-month diploma and a master’s degree in gerontology and geriatrics held at the University of Malta. INIA has so far conducted training programmes in over 17 countries and has trained 1000 participants.