ABSTRACT
Active ageing is a relatively new term and concept in the Indonesians’ vocabulary of older persons’ related issues. The government of Indonesia has adopted and recently promoted actively the concept of active ageing suggested by the World Health Organization (2002), which defined “active ageing” as “the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age”. The active ageing approach to policy and programme developments for older persons has the potential to address many challenges faced by both individuals and an ageing society. This approach in turn would help to offset the rising costs in pensions and income security schemes as well as those related to medical and social care costs. As the population ages, the challenge is that there will be an increasing pressure for policies and plans that encourage more and more individuals to reach old age in good health. Yet, old age is considered as the period of obvious changes in both physical and mental capacities, which result in many inevitable health problems. Older persons usually fall victim to various illnesses and diseases, both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
