Knowledge & Resources:
Active and healthy ageing

In the second episode of the “SAFE and Sound” podcast, our host Heini Maisala-McDonnell from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences welcomes at the studio Jaana Jantola, Tempore Personnel Services, and Antti Harjuoja, NextMile. The conversation focuses on how flexibility, inclusion, and understanding can help organisations strengthen age-friendliness and extend working lives. Our guests shares practical solutions, challenges, and the importance of seeing ageing as a source of value and experience in modern work communities.

This podcast is part of Interreg Central Baltic funded project SAFE – Solutions for Age-Friendly Employer. Available on Spotify – “Tune in Health”.

What makes a workplace age-friendly? In the NDPHS podcast’s “Tune in Health” sub-series “SAFE and Sound: Workplaces for All Ages”, we focus on different aspects of career management and attitudes to all ages. Together with Liisa Nuutinen and Heini Maisala-McDonnell from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, and Antti Harjuoja, CEO from NextMile, we share success stories, and explore how to boost job opportunities for individuals aged 55+.

This podcast is part of Interreg Central Baltic funded project SAFE – Solutions for Age-Friendly Employer. Available on Spotify – “Tune in Health”.

In this article, Alison Maassen and Ülla-Karin Nurm examine the topic of social prescribing – a promising approach to complement traditional healthcare. Social prescribing connects people to community activities, like arts, creative events, or nature walks, aiming to enhance their health and well-being. It addresses health determinants, offers a person-centered, health-promoting approach, and helps reduce pressure on health systems. Although interest is rising across Europe, long-term success relies on consistent funding, seamless integration into health and social systems, and investment in community resources to generate widespread and lasting positive effects.

Journal of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

This brochure introduces the Arts on Prescription approach to mental healthcare and provides an overview on health effects, economic benefits, as well as characteristics of the ‘Baltic model’ developed, tested and evaluated in our Interreg BSR project.

The publication outlines the aims, tasks, structure, and target groups of the Interreg project “Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region 2023-2025”.

The glossary outlines the Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region project’s organisation, the AoP model, and its meaning and related definitions.

The project „Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region” (2023-2025) is co-funded by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) in the frame of the Interreg Balticc Sea Region Programme.

The Arts on Prescription (AoP) concept is that people dealing with mild to moderate mental health problems such as stress, anxiety or depression as well as those at risk of developing such conditions get a prescription not for medicine or therapy, but for taking part in art activities. This has been proven to have positive health effects and to improve mental well-being.

This video presents museums as places to improve the mental health and well-being of local communities – a good practice from Cēsis, Latvia. The pilot programme is a part of our project “Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region” co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme. For more information visit: https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/ar…

Latvian with English subtitles.

The aim of the AgeFLAG project was to contribute to the health and wellbeing of older adults and, therefore, to make the societies more inclusive. Through national and regional needs assessments, the project identified the most important issues in relation to active and healthy ageing that the NDPHS partner countries face. The roadmap proposes joint activities that could be undertaken within the NDPHS context to address the regional needs. This roadmap presents a selection of these activities that the Partnership has committed to undertaking in the upcoming 2-3 years.

What is ageism? What are the leading factors on the change in how we see and feel about ageing and ageing populations? Can a person have SELF-ageism? In this episode we are getting to know what is meant by ageism and how the narratives could be changed for a more positive look on ageing. Episode’s expert guest is Tiina Tambaum, a well published spokesperson in Estonia on the topics of healthy ageing and educational gerontology. Tiina is a research fellow at the Estonian Institute for Population Studies, Tallinn University and she teaches Educational Gerontology at the Institute of Educational Sciences.

The Roadmap produced through the AgeFLAG seed money project presents the first practical actions towards establishing the NDPHS as a thought leader on active and healthy ageing. The presented activities contribute to the flagship process on active and healthy ageing of Policy Area Health within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

The report on the follow-up of the Baltic Sea Youth Declaration 2020 lists the recommendations given to the PA Health in the EUSBSR and how the NDPHS as a PA Health coordinator has acted on them. The document lists concrete actions that have been achieved so far and what are the future plans and commitments of the PA Health in order to amplify the voices of young people in our region.

An AgeFLAG workshop named “Policy Lab”, organised in February 2021, brought together regional health experts to co-create future NDPHS activities to promote active and healthy ageing. This report presents the outcomes of the policy lab and presents an input for the regional roadmap to guide the NDPHS work on ageing.

Drinking alcohol at an older age has become a progressively prevalent cultural practice. Heavy episodic drinking is in the rise and hazardous drinking resulting in hospitalisation or death have increased. This policy brief presents five knowledge-based policy recommendations to prevent and care for older people with harmful alcohol consumption patterns.

The joint regional needs assessment report presents the four regional priorities for further action to improve health and wellbeing of the ageing population. The report is produced within the context of the AgeFLAG project as an input for the roadmap for regional action based on the priorities identified in national needs assessments.

The second AgeFLAG workshop was organised in September 2021 to discuss and co-create potential NDPHS actions to promote active and healthy ageing. The workshop focused on integrated care, labour participation, and life-long learning. This report presents the outcomes of the policy lab and input to the regional roadmap to guide the NDPHS work on ageing.

The highlights from the online conference Connecting minds across the ages, discussing ageism, intergenerational contacts and inclusivity in service design and policymaking. The conference was organised as a Side Event to the Partnership Annual Conference 2021.

The online conference Connecting minds across the ages asked: why is age-based discrimination and prejudice so widespread and how do we overcome it? The conference was organised as a Side Event to the Partnership Annual Conference 2021.

The Russian national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.

The Polish national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.

The Lithuanian national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.

The Latvian national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.

The Finnish national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.

The Estonian national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.

The policy brief presents the facts on the ageing and multimordibity in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea Region, explores the problems, challenges and opportunities, and provides a set of actionable recommendaitons for the different groups of stakeholders, from the policymakers to the general public. The document is a result of an online conference Multimorbidity and Ageing in the Northern Dimension Area held on 23 September 2020.

The research review reports key results from three studies applying three different perspectives on alcohol and substance use in older adults. It condenses the experience of the three studies, covering drinking patterns, client profiles in healthcare settings and challenges to home care, into lessons learned.

The Swedish national needs assessment report presents the five national priorities for promoting active and healthy ageing. This report has been developed in connection to AgeFLAG -project and as input to the regional roadmap to guide NDPHS work on ageing.