Every month, we share a few highlights on how innovations and changemakers are shaping society for New Longevity.

 

  • Ashoka is excited to announce the election of two new Ashoka Fellows: Mawuko Anani A. EKUHOHO from Togo and Víctor Manuel Gutiérrez Rojas from Chile. Anani and Victor will be joining the Ashoka - Fit For Life Foundation cohort which supports social entrepreneurs from the Global South in their efforts to advance social innovations in healthy living and longevity. Discover more about their impactful initiatives.

 

  • Featuring inspiring changemakers working in longevity, Brief But Spectacular, a series produced by our partner Second Peninsula, captured the transformative journeys of two Ashoka Fellows: Ximena Abogabir and Dixon Chibanda. Ximena Abogabir (Chile) explores the power of lifelong learning and contribution in Our Journey to 100, and Dixon Chibanda (Zimbabwe) unveils the Healing Power of Grandmothers, highlighting their crucial role as change agents in society. These powerful stories offer profound insights into aging with purpose and fostering stronger intergenerational connections.

 

  • In India, senior citizens aged 70 and above are now eligible for a free health insurance cover of up to Rupees 500,000 (~ USD 6,000) per year under the government’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored that this expansion reflects the government's commitment to ensuring accessible and dignified healthcare for every senior citizen. Read more about this insurance scheme in an article by The Times of India.

 

  • The Chinese government approved a plan to gradually raise the statutory retirement age, the lowest in the world, in response to its rapidly aging population. This marks the first increase since the 1950s, starting on January 1, 2025, with men’s retirement age rising from 60 to 63 by 2040, and women’s from 55 to 58 for white-collar jobs and from 50 to 55 for blue-collar jobs. Policymakers have long advocated for this change, highlighting that the current rules are outdated and unsustainable given the declining working-age population and the strain on pension funds as the number of retirees grows. As of last year, 21 percent of China’s population was over 60, totaling 297 million individuals. Read more.

 

 

  • The New Longevity Lab in Brazil is launching a Social Innovation Mapping of the Longevity Ecosystem. The study analyzed over 400 initiatives across key sectors in Brazil: Civil Society, Government, Private Sector, Academia, and Media/Content Producers. As part of the research, 17 key stakeholders were interviewed, offering suggestions to drive demand for more initiatives focused on harnessing the opportunities for lifelong contribution. This mapping introduces the innovative New Longevity Brain, an AI-powered tool developed by Ashoka’s New Longevity team in partnership with Apurva AI, which extracts insights on barriers and lessons learned within Brazil’s longevity ecosystem. The Mapping will be available on Oct 1st on the webpage: www.labnovalongevidade.org.

 

  • Founder’s syndrome is a challenge many social entrepreneurs face. Recently, the Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs hosted a session with Susanna Kislenko (Skoll Centre Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford and Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University) to address this issue. The discussion unpacked the complexities of founder’s syndrome, offering insights on how to understand it and strategies for avoiding it. Join the conversation.

 

"It is not how old you are, but how you are old." – Marie Dressler.

Your Turn

What role do you think technology can play in improving the quality of life for older adults? How can communities ensure that older people are not left behind in the digital age? Join the conversation.