Action on ageing population urged

New Zealand must act quickly to prepare for a looming increase in the number of older people, Ottawa-based academic and consultant Satya Brink says.

She was the key-note speaker at the two-day New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services conference about services for older people, which opened in Dunedin yesterday.

Speaking after her talk, Dr Brink said preparations for a rise in numbers of older people would require government sectors to work together in new ways.

Dr Brink, an adjunct professor in gerontology at Simon Fraser University, in Ottawa, Canada, presented findings to the conference of research commissioned by the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services about how this country is faring internationally in preparing for an ageing population.