KOTA KINABALU, Sept 11 — Malaysia must move beyond viewing ageing primarily as a health care issue and fundamentally rethink how its homes, communities, workplaces, services, and systems are designed as the country moves towards an increasingly older population.
This was the key message as the 11th Malaysian Conference on Healthy Ageing (MCHA 2026) opened today at the Sabah International Convention Centre, bringing together health care professionals, researchers, policymakers, allied health practitioners, aged care providers, industry representatives, and advocates from Malaysia and abroad.
Organised by the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society (MHAS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Health and People’s Wellbeing Sabah, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Sabah, the Association of Private Practitioners Sabah (APPS), and the Sabah Healthy Ageing Society (SHAS), the two-day conference themed “Revolutionising Healthy Ageing” is focused on practical and evidence-based approaches to enabling people to live healthier, more independent and meaningful lives throughout the ageing journey.
Organising chairman Dr Wong Teck Wee said Malaysia needed to prepare for ageing by looking beyond medical care and addressing the environments and support systems in which older people live.
“Ageing is not simply a medical issue. If we want Malaysians to live longer and healthier lives, we must also ensure that our homes, neighbourhoods, transport systems, public spaces, and communities enable people to remain independent and connected as they grow older,” he said.
He said the conference was particularly significant as Malaysia faced a rapidly changing demographic landscape.
“We need to shift the conversation from managing old age to enabling healthy ageing. The objective is not merely to add years to life, but to add health, independence, dignity, purpose and quality to those years.”
The conference examines healthy ageing from four broad perspectives: clinical approaches to ageing, functional ageing, the mind and ageing, and community, policies and systems.
Scientific chairman Dr Brandon Patrick Senagang said MCHA 2026 had deliberately brought together diverse disciplines because healthy ageing could not be addressed by any single profession or sector.
“The science of ageing is evolving rapidly, but translating that knowledge into meaningful outcomes for older people requires collaboration across medicine, allied health, rehabilitation, nutrition, technology, social care and the wider community,” he said.
Among the major themes being explored are artificial intelligence (AI), digital health and wearables, dementia care, frailty and sarcopenia, nutrition, loneliness and elder abuse, ageism, mental resilience, sensory health, age-friendly cities and homes, ageing in rural and indigenous communities, ageing in place, and the responsibilities of families and caregivers.
The opening day features the Prof Dr Philip George Memorial Lecture 2026, focusing on AI, digital health and wearables in healthy ageing, alongside discussions on family responsibilities in caring for older persons, loneliness and elder abuse, nutrition, frailty, age-friendly cities and homes, ageism, and ageing in rural and indigenous communities.
The second day will expand the discussion to cancer prevention and early detection, neurodivergent ageing, healthy longevity, community-based dementia support, disability and ageing, home-based care, brain health, ageing in place, pain management, legal issues including mental capacity and living wills, and sexual health and intimacy in later life.
MHAS president Prof Nathan Vytialingam said the country needed to recognise that longer lives would have implications far beyond the health care system.
“Healthy ageing is ultimately about participation — the ability of older people to remain active, connected, independent, and valued members of society.
“We must challenge ageism and ensure that older people are not seen simply as recipients of care, but as contributors to families, communities and the economy,” he said.
He said Malaysia needed a coordinated approach involving government, health care, communities, families, and the private sector.
“If we plan well, longevity should be seen not as a burden but as an opportunity. The challenge before us is to build a society in which people can age with dignity and continue to contribute for as long as they are able and wish to do so.”
MCHA 2026 also began with three pre-conference workshops on healthy ageing assessment, generative AI for healthy ageing and care innovation, and dementia awareness, detection and support, reflecting the conference’s emphasis on translating knowledge into practical skills and solutions.
Dr Wong said holding the conference in Sabah was also significant in highlighting the need for healthy-ageing strategies that were inclusive and relevant to different communities and geographical settings.
“There cannot be a one-size-fits-all model for healthy ageing. The needs of an older person living in an urban centre can be very different from someone living in a rural or indigenous community. Our solutions must reflect this diversity.”
He said MCHA 2026 would provide an important platform for stakeholders to exchange ideas and develop approaches that could contribute towards a more age-friendly Malaysia.
The conference brings together Malaysian and international experts in geriatrics, healthy longevity, dementia care, digital health, rehabilitation, nutrition and ageing research, continuing MHAS’s efforts to place healthy ageing higher on the national agenda.
