The International Day of Older Persons this year was dedicated to the “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World” with a focus on older women. This special focus recalls the key role played by older women in making our societies resilient, especially in the care sector. A role that is unfortunately not enough recognized, valued nor supported.

The contribution and the special rope of older women were underlined during the meeting of the Council of Administration of AGE platform Europe. It was the first face to face meeting for the last 3 years, that took place in Brussels on 12 and 13 October. Representatives of organisations working with and for older people across Europe came together to discuss recent developments like the European Care strategy, the MIPAA20 ministerial and NGO/research declarations and others.

The World Mental Health Day, celebrated annually on 10 October, was an opportunity for us to call for promoting mental health as an essential part of the active and healthy ageing. Mental health problems affect physical health, emotional and social well-being, and overall quality of life.

We talked about the upcoming AGE Annual Conference “A Europe that cares is a Europe that empowers”, that will be held online in November under the patronage of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Various initiatives aimed at social and digital inclusion of older people were presented and discussed over the two days.