Alexandre Kalache and the revolution of longevity

Alexandre Kalache, one of the leading international experts in longevity issues, was in charge of delivering the opening conference of the General CSIC Foundation exhibition "Live, that are 100 years. A scientific vision of longevity and healthy ageing", inaugurated at the Casa de la Ciencia in Seville on October 1, on the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons.

In his lecture, entitled "The revolution of longevity", Alexandre Kalache, who currently chairs the Global Alliance of International Longevity Centers (ILC Global Alliance) and the International Longevity Center Brazil (ILC-BR), has highlighted that we are at a key moment: we are living a global revolution in which we are all immersed, the revolution of longevity, since there are currently more living people over 60 years than the sum of all those that have been throughout the history of mankind. In his opinion, we have to celebrate that we are living, everything else is a premature death. For this reason, for this expert, "active ageing is what encourages us to be in movement".

Kalache, who was director of the Department of Ageing and Life Course of the World Health Organization, where he conceived the political framework of Active Ageing in 2002 and, in 2007, the global movement of the Friendly Cities for the Elderly, highlighted the importance of this network. "These cities are oriented to support and allow older people to live with dignity, enjoy good health and continue participating in society fully and actively. Life has stopped being a race of 100 meters to become a marathon for which we must prepare both individually and socially. "

The exhibition "Live, that are 100 years", an initiative of the Fundación General CSIC within the framework of the project "International Center on Ageing" (CENIE), co-financed by ERDF Interreg VA funds (POCTEP 2014-2020), aims to be a travel through the aspects that are part of our ageing as individuals and as a society. Structured in five areas, the sample gives answers to some of the questions we ask ourselves during this vital journey: What is ageing? What do people do to have such long lives? How does the environment condition our ageing? What should I do to achieve a healthy ageing? And one more step, what to do to reach 100 years healthy?