27th Digitally Inclusive, Healthy Ageing Communities (DIHAC) Study Cross-cultural Exchange Meeting

Digitally Inclusive, Healthy Ageing Communities (DIHAC) is a cross-cultural study primarily based on Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Thailand, further expanding to India. DIHAC is expected to expand to several countries through collaboration and networking. We organize bi-monthly cross-cultural meetings to create trans-disciplinary learning opportunities for researchers, professionals, and graduate students.

The  27^th Digitally Inclusive, Healthy Ageing Communities (DIHAC) Study Cross-cultural Exchange Meeting will be held on 20th February 2025.

The chairperson of the 27^th DIHAC meeting is Rohit Prasad, MBA., CEO of HelpAge India, a secular, not-for-profit organization in India that helps older people. With decades of experience in both business and social work, he focuses on healthcare and public health. His work at HelpAge India includes healthcare, age care, livelihoods, and advocacy for disadvantaged older persons. He moderated several panel discussions of about the digital literacy and healthy ageing such as UN-ESCAP symposium about harnessing technology for enhanced quality of life.

We are very honored to learn from two invited speakers. Speaker from the United States is Dr. Paul P. Freddolino, Ph.D., Professor, School of Social Work, Michigan State University, specializing and highly experienced in technology and social work practice. His research focuses on digital tools supporting older adults and people with dementia, with extensive publications on digital literacy and telehealth readiness. He will present on virtual connections among older adults in the US.

Speaker from Singapore is Elizabeth Teo, M.Sc., Programme Project Manager, Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), District Councillor (Northeast Community Development Council, Singapore) and Community Gerontologist.  She had intensive experiences and leadership in cooperates and community development. She is the collaborator of the current DIHAC study in Singapore site. We will hear about the community empowerment initiative to support Singaporean older adults.

We are very glad to announce the upcoming 27^th DIHAC meeting which will exchange evidence, initiatives, and experiences from the US and Singapore cross-culturally. Participants are multi-disciplinary researchers, global health researchers, epidemiologists, sociologists, economists, medical doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, NGOs, NPOs, and PhD students from Japan, ROK, Singapore, Thailand, Kenya, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, South Africa, Ukraine, Belgium, the Netherlands, U.S.A and the UK. We want to share this learning opportunity with our friends, colleagues, experts, scholars and researchers around the world.

Date and Time:

20^th February 2025

18:00 to 19:20 JST (Tokyo, Seoul)

17:00 to 18:20 SGT (Singapore)

16:00 to 17:20 ICT (Bangkok)

in Zoom, by invitation or by registration

Meeting Access to register

(Please register by 19th February 2025 if you are interested! limited seats)

Program

Socializing (5 minutes) PI Associate Professor Myo Nyein Aung, Juntendo University, Department of Global Health Research, DIHAC study team and international participants

Presentation 1: United States

Speaker: Dr. Paul P. Freddolino, Ph.D., Professor, School of Social Work, College of Social Science, Michigan State University, United States

Title – Virtual Connections 

(20 minutes)

Discussion 10 minutes

Presentation 2: Singapore

Speaker: Elizabeth Teo, M.Sc., Programme Project Manager, Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), District Councilor (Northeast Community Development Council, Singapore) and Community Gerontologist, Singapore

Title – Community Empowerment to Support an Ageing Population in a Northeast Township in Singapore

(20 minutes)

Discussion and conclusion (15 minutes)

Chairperson: Rohit Prasad, MBA., CEO of HelpAge India