PROMOTING AGEING AS A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY AND MULTI-

SECTORAL PROGRAM 

A Keynote Presentation

by

PROF. HILARY I. INYANGPresident, Global Education and Infrastructure Services, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; and

Member, Education Caucus, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, Washington DC, USA.

Email: h.inyang26@gmail.com

at the Inaugural Conference of

THE AFRICAN SOCIETY FOR AGEING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (ASARD)The Idris Abdulkadir Auditorium National University Commission,

Abuja, Nigeria

October 13 - 14, 2015

INTRODUCTION

By 2050, about 2.0 billion people at and above 65 years old (triple 2010 level)

In Africa, there will be more than 750 million people at and above 60 years old.

Major socio-political problems dull public consciousness about the plight of the elderly.

Huge differences in circumstances between the technologically advanced and developing countries.

A survey of 15 African countries within the past 7 years, indicated that in 11 countries greater proportion of the elderly in poverty than the proportion of the general population in poverty.

Even in the 2015 MDG’s, youth and children were given priority to the exclusion of the elderly.

Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Some South American Countries are region were significant improvements are necessary.

GLOBAL POPULATION COMPOSITION

Source: The World In One Generation: Population Trends - John Battelle's ... battellemedia.com 

NUMBER OF PEOPLE AGED 60 OR OLDER: WORLD, DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, 1950-

2050

Source: Population ageing and urbanization - Sage Vita www.sagevita.com 

SIGNIFICANCE OF AGEING AS REGARDS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Multi-year National Development Plans (NDPs). A key factor-development and sustenance of an healthy workforce.

Risk of transition of elderly people out of the workforce without replacement.

New initiatives in response to the post-2015 MDG’s offer opportunities for creation of roles for the elderly in development programs.

Benefits from investments in health insurance coverage, housing subsidy, and other elderly-friendly provisions include mobility of labour, enhanced economic productivity and youth counselling.

VULNERABILITIES OF THE ELDERLY

HEALTH DELCINE

VULNERABILITY TO ENVIRONMENTAL

STRESSES

DISASTER VULNERABILITY

SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL VULNERABILITY

HUMAN AGE TRANSITIONS

A HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DECLINING WORKER

CAPACITY AND OCCUPATIONAL PHYSICAL DEMANDS

DISEASES THAT TYPICALLY INCREASE IN INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY WITH AGE

SOURCE: www.nature.com ...

Release

Processes

Exposure

Pathways

& Intake

Civil and Industrial

Activities

Ecological

Impacts

Health

Impacts

WASTE ENVIRONMENTHUMAN

SYSTEM

LINKAGES OF CONTAMINANT RELEASE FROM EXPOSED WASTES INTO ECOLOGICAL AND

HUMAN SYSTEMS

This Day, Page 44, Thursday, Vol. 15, No. 5450

LEACHING OF CONTAMINANTS FROM EXPOSED WASTE INTO PONDS THAT SUPPLY DOMESTIC

WATER IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

ECOLOGICAL AND HEALTH DAMAGES BY AIR POLLUTANTS

DUST EMITTED FROM UNPAVED ROADS ARE WASHED OFF BY RAIN AND INCREASE THE TURBIDITY OF SURFACE WATER

BODIESLUNG DAMAGE AND OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS DUE TO INHALATION OF CONTAMINATED DUST 

GENERATED BY VEHICLE OPERATION ON UNSURFACED ROADS

• IN = the intake defined as the amount of a specific chemical in

a contaminated medium taken (mg/kg of body weight per day).

• C = the average chemical concentration contacted over the

exposure period (mg/L for liquid and gases, and mg/mg for solids

• IR = the intake rate defined as the amount of the contaminated

medium contacted per unit of time or event (mg/day or L/day)• EF = the upper-bound value of the exposure frequency (day/year)• ED = the upper-bound value of the exposure duration (years)• BW = the average body weight over the exposure period (kg)• AT = the average time defined as the time period over which

exposure is averaged (exposure duration for non-carcinogens and 70 years for carcinogens

))((

))()()((

ATBW

EDEFIRCIN

THE CRITICAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT EQUATION

The Basic Equation of Human Exposure Assessment:

FRAMING OF CROSS-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT THE ELDERLY

• Global Framing for Research at Jurisdictional Levels

• Regionalization of Research Programs

• Cross-disciplinary Research Focus Areas• Research that focuses on biological and mental health aspects of

ageing

• Research that focuses on psychological and social systems aspects of ageing.

• Research that focuses on ergonomics support systems for the elderly

• Research that focuses on nutrition and treatment of diseases of the elderly

• Preparation of Students for Research and Program Implementation on Ageing • Sustenance of pipeline of skilled personnel.

• Focus on fundamentals as the foundation.

• Engage studies and researchers in public policy development and implementation at various jurisdictional levels.

• Storage and Management of Data on Ageing:

DIVERSITY OF AGEING PROGRAMS AND UNITS

(Current and Prospective)

UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR HAS MULTIPLE CONSTITUENCIES AND UTILITIES AT THE GLOBAL,

AFRICAN, NIGERIA AND CROSS RIVER STATE LOCAL LEVELS

NMI,

NATIONAL AGENDA USING NIGERIA AS

AN EXAMPLE(PUBLIC/PRIVATE

SECTOR)

National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)

Vision-2020

7-Point Agenda

State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS)

Local Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS)

STEP-B

AGENCIESCONTINENTAL

AND NATIONAL

PROGRAMS

• To b

e id

en

tifi

ed

an

d t

arg

ete

d

• To b

e id

en

tifi

ed

an

d t

arg

ete

d

,MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMEN

TGOALS (MDGs)

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Achieve universal primary education

Promote gender equality and

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Ensure environmental sustainability

Develop a global partnership for development

REGIONAL

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

PROSPECTIVE FOCUS OF CROSS DISCIPLINARY CENTRES

INDUSTRIAL AND POLICY SUPPORT PROGRAMMES

•Entrepreneurship and Extension Programs•Linkages to African and other Centers of Excellence

•Conferences and Publications•Outreach to High Schools and Private Firms

INSTRUMENTS FOR SUPPORT OF INITIATIVES ON AGEING

• Institutional Control Measures

• Regulations

• Policy support

• Codes and specifications

• Market incentives

• Monitoring and enforcement

• Intellectual Support Measures

• Technical guidance

• Research

• Technical training

RISK MANAGEMENT AND AGEING FACTORS THAT NEED DATA FROM RESEARCH

THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF DRUGS THAT TARGET LONGEVITY PATHWAYS

SOURCE: Developing Drugs to Treat (Diseases of) Aging | MIT Technology Review www.technologyreview.com 

19

FARMLANDS MUST BE PROTECTED FROM THE RAVAGES OF DISASTERS TO THE DIRECT ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF THE

RURAL POOR

The Author with a Chinese farmer on reclaimed mine land in Jiangsu, China, Oct. 27, 2003

SOURCE DISCIPLINES FOR TECHNIQUES THAT ARE NEEDED TO PERFORM RESEARCH ON AGEING TO

GENERATE DATA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

ACADEMIC INSTITUTION

S

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

CORPORATIONS

• Banks• Industry• Analysts

CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS

SCREENING PROCESSES

DATABANKS

SCREENING PROCESSES

NON-SENSITIVE INFORMATION

DISSEMINATION TO PUBLIC

SENSITIVE INFORMATION

INACCESSIBLE

ACADEMIC INSTITUTIO

NS

PUBLIC AGENCIE

S

THE PRESS AND

PUBLISHERS

CIVIL/CORPORATE

GROUPS

LIBRARIES

INTERNET & BROADCAST

ERS

CONFIGURATION OF INFORMATION GENERATION, STORAGE AND ACCESS SYSTEMS THAT CAN BE ENHANCED BY BROADBAND COMMUNICATION

SYSTEMS

GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF INTEGRATION OF ISSUES RELATED WITH SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLANS

Source: Broadband Commission for Digital Development Secretariat, 2013

CONCLUSIONThere is great disparity in ageing research and support programs between the technologically advanced countries and the developing countries. Research data are needed to improve programs. However, most countries in the developing regions may not have sufficient resources to cover research that would address ageing issues at the scale that can significantly impact the economic development targets of individual countries. Opportunities exist for regional blocs to combine efforts and establish research programs that would outline issues for coverage by an annual call for research proposals in cross-disciplinary knowledge sectors of ageing. These knowledge sectors are primarily nested in social support systems for the elderly; nutrition and medical support against sickness that are attributable to ageing; ergonomics to support physical capacity of the elderly on mobility and occupational health; and biological and mental health aspects.

Data should be managed such that they can be readily available to analysts, policy-makers and program implementation managers. Advances in data storage and management systems have greatly advanced the ability of managers to access and use available ageing data. However, more targeted research needs to be performed to address challenges that still confront program implemeters.

24

Prof. Inyang is currently the President and CEO, Global Education and Infrastructure Services (GEISE), and the African University System (ACUS) Initiative. He is a former Vice Chancellor of the Botswana International University of Science and technology (BIUST), Palapye and served from 2001 to 2013 as the Duke Energy Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA Prof. Inyang has made major and worldwide technical and policy contributions to regional and global sustainable development as an educator/administrator, researcher, government official and corporate leader. He is a former President of the African University of Science and

Technology, Abuja, Nigeria and Founding Director of the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, USA. In 2008, he was a finalist for the position of United Nations Under Secretary-General and Rector of United Nations University in Tokyo. He was the President of the International Society for Environmental Geotechnology (ISEG) and leads the Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction (GADR). In 2008, he was selected as a Technical Judge of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. From 1997 to 2001, he was the Chair of the Environmental Engineering Committee of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, and also served on the Effluent Guidelines Committee of the US National Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. Prior to his position at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, he was DuPont Professor/University Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts, where he helped establish the Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology of the University System, while serving as the Founding Director of the Lowell-based Center for Environmental Engineering, Science and Technology (1995 - 2000). He taught previously at Purdue University, George Washington University and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where he started his academic career 27 years ago. He has helped establish research institutes and operate educational programs in Brazil, Japan, Korea, India, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, United Arab Emirates and China at where he has been an Honorary Professor/Concurrent Professor (CUMT and Nanjing University) since 2004 and 1999, respectively.

Prof. Hilary was the first black person to be endowed as a distinguished professor in environmental engineering in the United States, as well as the first African immigrant to Chair (1997-2001) a Committee of the congressionally mandated national science advisory body of a US agency. During his career in academe, the private sector and government, he has developed innovative materials, systems (including GEORAD Barrier Concept) and performance estimation tools for long-term (100-10,000 years) containment of contaminants and suppression of dust to reduce environmental and health risks in climatic zones, ranging from the hot/humid tropics to the frigid Arctic. He has led/performed research expeditions to Jiangsu Province of China on mining subsidence and erosion; Siberia (Russia) on oil spills; Niger Delta of Nigeria on oil spills; Alaska on Permafrost degradation due to global climate change; and Minas Gerais region of Brazil on fugitive dust emission studies. Hilary is a prolific developer of analytical frameworks, quantitative models and field-relevant data that have been used by agencies, researchers, private firms and students worldwide. He pioneered the incorporation of fundamental chemo dynamic mechanisms into contaminant leachability models for estimating emission source terms for materials under scenarios in which they are subjected to both load and environmental stresses. His models and experimental data on physic-chemical interactions between natural/synthetic polymers and lateritic soils have provided rational bases for aqueous polymer application in dust control to safeguard human health in many countries. Among the several national and international environmental and economic development programmes that he has contributed to are Co-chairing of the International Council for Science (ICSU-Africa) working group on Africa’s agenda setting for the 2012 RIO+20 United Nations Summitd; the Nigerian Governments’ programmes on oil spills management; environmental hazards control programmes in Africa.

He has authored/co-authored more than 260 research articles, book chapters, federal design manuals and the textbook, Geoenvironmental Engineering: principles and applications, published by Marcel Dekker (ISBN: 0-8247-0045-7). His research and professional focus are on contaminant leaching and dusting from materials, containment systems and materials for barriers, energy systems and geohazards. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Energy Engineering of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), an associate editor/editorial board member of 27 refereed international journals and contributing editor of three books, including the United Nations Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (Environmental Monitoring Section). Professor Inyang has served on more than 100 technical and policy panels of governments and professional societies, and has given more than 130 invited speeches and presentations on a variety of technical and policy issues at many institutions and agencies in several countries, including the Goldberg-Zoino Lecture at MIT (1994), the AMOCO Foundation Lecture at Iowa State university (1996), the ALCOA Endowed Lecture at Carnegie-Mellon University (2002), and addresses at the Parliament of Switzerland in Bern (2001) and Nigerian Senate Environmental Committee (2008). He has chaired/co-chaired international conferences in Korea, Japan, Turkey, the United States, Brazil, Finland, Canada, Slovenia, Ghana, China and Nigeria. Professor Inyang holds a Ph.D. with a double major in Geotechnical Engineering and Materials, and a minor in Mineral Resources from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; an M.S. and B.S. in Civil Engineering from North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota; and a B.Sc. (Honors) in Geology from the University of Calabar, Nigeria.

He has served as principal investigator, co-principal investigator and implementation leader on 50 projects. His research has been sponsored by NOAA, FHWA, USDOE, USDOD, USNRC, DuPont Corporation, Sandia National Laboratory, Duke Energy Corporation and the National Science Foundation. For his research contributions to advances in geoenvironmental science and engineering, professional practice in many countries, and public policies on energy and environmental issues, he has received several professional honors, including selection as a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, the 1999 Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; 2001 Swiss Forum Fellow selection by the American Association for the Advancement of Science ; the 1996 US National Research Council Young Investigator Selection; 1992 Eisenhower-Jennings Randolph Award of the International Public Works Federation/World Affairs Institute that was instituted to honor the international achievements of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower; the 1991 American Association for the Advancement of Science/USEPA Environmental Science and Engineering Fellowship; and election (by eminence) as a Board-Certified Member (BCEEM) of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (2006). On October 2, 2002, he was honored in Washington, DC at a ceremony organized by the US Government to honor 10 environmental scientists for technical contributions to the United States through the USEPA. He is the winner of the 2013 Nigerian National Order of Merit, NNOM (Academic Prize) for Engineering and Technology.

PROF. HILARY I. INYANGPresident and CEO, Global Education and Infrastructure Services (GEISE), The African University System (ACUS) Initiative and Member, Education Caucus, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) Email: h.inyang26@gmail.com , Cell in USA: (+1) 704 345 0288 Cell in Nigeria: (+234)

814 569 6364, (+234) 902 990 4554