NEW NEWSLETTER: AGEING AND DEVELOPMENT, April 1998. HelpAge International has begun an international newsletter with a focus on poverty eradication, news about new research, publications and projects. For information contact Mark Gorman at HelpAge International, 67-74 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8QX, UK, hai@helpage.org. HelpAge International [http://www.helpage.org/] is an international grass-roots organization that is working throughout the world in villages and cities. Their site can let students know about their global efforts. 

WEB SPECIALS:

www.un.org/esa/population/pubsarchive/untech/untechdocs.htm  UNITED NATIONS TECHNICAL MEETING ON POPULATION AGEING AND LIVING ARRANGEMENTS OF OLDER PERSONS. The papers from this meeting cover many regions of the world with up-to-date data.

http://www.ilcusa.org/_lib/pdf/ihara.pdf LONG-TERM CARE INNOVATIONS IN JAPAN. Chapter 10 was completed in the middle of dramatic changes in long-term care financing and social policy in Japan. This article prepared for the International Longevity Center, "Japan's Policies on Long-Term Care for the Aged: The Gold Plan and the Long-Term Care Insurance Program by Kazuhito Ihara, discusses the Public Long-Term Care Insurance Law, which went into effect in April, 2000.

http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/asia/ AGING AND CHANGE IN ASIA. "The Comparative Study in Four Asian Countries Project" and "Rapid Demographic Change and the Welfare of the Elderly," are among the most important cross-national aging projects now being undertaken. 

WEB RESOURCES: top of page

http://www.tmig.or.jp/index.html The home page of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. Information can be found about their important research projects. 

http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/asia/focus.html FOCUS GROUP DATA ARCHIVE AVAILABLE ON EAST ASIAN NATIONS. The Focus Group Data Archive is a repository for qualitative materials collected by the "Rapid Demographic Change and the Welfare of the Elderly" projects. As a part of the comparative study of the elderly in Asia, a series of focus group discussions were held with elderly participants and with adults who had an elderly parent in each of the collaborating countries (Phillippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand). The full set of transcripts, both in original language and English translation are being archived at the Population Studies Center Data Archives at the University of Michigan. This represents one of the first attempts to archive such qualitative data in order to make it available for secondary analysis. The qualitative data in the aging project have the potential both for comparative analysis and for country level analysis and should be of interest to scholars involved in research on aging issues. For additional information about use of the Archive, contact Lisa Niedert at: lisan@umich.edu,or by phone at: (313) 998-7153, and/or Chanpen Saengtienchai at: chanpens@psc.lsa.umich.edu.

"Ageing in Africa: the Youngest Continent"
is a short article about aging and development in Africa.

NEW PROJECTS TO FOLLOW: top of page

A PROFILE OF THE HEALTH CONDITIONS OF OLDER PERSONS IN EIGHT URBAN CENTERS OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN. This new study by the Pan American Health Organization is looking at the health and well-being of elders in Bridgetown, Barbados; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; San José, Costa Rica; Havana, Cuba; Mexico City, Mexico; and Montevideo, Uruguay. 

The study is designed to provide an assessment of current health status and health conditions among older persons (with special attention to illnesses, physical, mental and functional impairments) and their access and use of health care and health services. Of special importance is the description and documentation of differentials across cohorts, gender, and social classes regarding health status as well as access to and use of health care. 

For more information contact: Martha Peláez, Ph.D., Regional Advisor on Aging and Health, Pan American Health Organization, 525 Twenty third Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037 --- By e-mail at: pelaezma@paho.org.

PRINT RESOURCES: top of page

Anh, T.S., B.T. Cuong, D. Goodkind, J. Knodel. 1997. Living arrangements, patrilineality and sources of support among elderly Vietnamese. Asia-Pacific Population J. 12(4): 69-88.

Hermalin, A.I. 1997. Drawing policy lessons for Asia from research on aging. Asia-Pacific Population J. 12(4): 89-102.

Ingstad, B., F.J. Bruun, S. Tlou. 1997. AIDS and the elderly Tswana: the concept of pollution and consequences for AIDS prevention. JCCG 12: 357-72. 

Lloyd-Sherlock, P. 1997. Old age and urban poverty in the developing world: the shanty towns of Buenos Aires. NY: St. Martins Press.

Mehta, K., ed. 1997. Untapped resources: women in aging societies across Asia. Singapore: Times Academic Press.

Omidian, P.A. 1996. Aging and family in an Afghan community: transitions and transformations. NY: Garland.

Traphagan, J. W. 1998. Reasons for Gateball Participation among Older Japanese in a Rural Hamlet. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. Vol.13, No. 2, pp. 159-175.

__________. 1998. Localizing Senility: Illness and Agency among Older Japanese. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology. Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 81-98.

__________. 1998. Contesting the Transition to Old Age in Japan. Ethnology. Vol 37, No. 4, pp. 333-50.

Trockman, C., et. al. 1997. "Adapting instruments for caregiver research in elderly Japanese American women." Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology Vol. 12: 2:109-120. Look at this article to consider the methodlogical issues in chapter 8.

van der Geest, S. 1997. Money and respect: the changing value of old age in rural Ghana. Africa 67: 534-59.

Clark, R.L. and N. Ogawa. 1996. "Public Attitudes and Concerns about Population Aging in Japan." Ageing & Society 16(4): 443-65.

Tracy, M. 1991. Social Policies for the Elderly in the Third World. Westport, CT: Greenwood. A look at the social policy programs being instituted in a broad range of countries including: China, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Turkey.

Herlitz, C. 1997. "Distribution of Informal and Formal Home Help for Elderly People in Sweden." Gerontologist 37(1):117-12 4. Sweden has highest percent of formal home help but a problem is emerging with the decrease in such help. 

Ham-Chande, R. 1995. The Elderly in Mexico: Another Challenge For a Middle-Income Country. Malta: Interna tional Institute on Aging.

Midgley, J. and M.B. Tracy, eds. 1996. Challenges to Social Security: An International Exploration. Westport CT: Auburn House.