Add life to years for all older New Zealanders

The Ageing Well National Science Challenge vision is to add life to years for all older New Zealanders. This will be achieved by harnessing science to sustain health and wellbeing into the later years of life.

The mission of Ageing Well is to push back disability thresholds to enable all New Zealanders to reach their full potential through the life course with particular reference to the latter years of life.

Five interlinking strands of research are presented to address the mission. These are:

1. Enabling independence and autonomy / tino rangatiratanga of older individuals and their whānau and families
2. Ensuring a meaningful life through social integration and engagement
3. Recognising at a societal level the value of ongoing contributions of knowledge and experience of older people
4. Reducing disability
5. Developing age-friendly environments

These strands will incorporate work to push back the disability threshold by optimising brain and body health, and social and physical environments for older people.