The World Congress on Active Aging stemmed from the work of the International Society for Aging and Physical Activity (ISAPA), a membership-based society founded in 1998 to promote physical activity, exercise science, and fitness in the health and well-being of older people.
The event, formerly called the World Congress on Aging and Physical Activity, emerged from a series of international scientific meetings on aging and physical activity, the first of which was held in 1984 in West Point, New York, United States. Subsequent meetings were held in Budapest (1988), Jyvaskyla, Finland (1992), Heidelberg, Germany (1996), Orlando, Florida, United States (1999), London, Ontario, Canada (2004), and Tsukuba, Japan (2008).
The original impetus behind these international congresses came from the Center for the Study of Aging in Albany, New York, initially under the direction of Raymond and Sara Harris. In recent years, the international congresses have been co-sponsored by a variety of different scientific, professional, commercial, and nongovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization Programme on Aging and Health, the United Nations’ Programme on Aging, the Center for the Study of Aging in Albany, the European Union, the American Senior Fitness Association, and Human Kinetics.
The 2012 World Congress on Active Aging will take place in Glasgow, Scotland.
