Kick off of the PROGRAMMING COST Action 21122

Author: Marina Kotsani

Origin/Affiliation: Geriatrician (France, Greece)

On the 2/11/22, EuGMS launched a new adventure! The COST Action PROGRAMMING PROmoting GeRiAtric Medicine in countries where it is still eMergING kicked off. EuGMS, other than being the Grant Holder of this Action, has, since the beginning, played a key role in preparing the application and raising the necessary network of proposers for this project. Besides, the first seed of this COST Action was planted during the activities of the EuGMS Global Initiative Group, that aims at promoting Geriatric Medicine (GM) in countries with weak geriatrics’ background and at homogenizing practices across Europe, also in alignment with the EuGMS’s missions.

The PROGRAMMING CA specifically aims to provide a consensus on the content of short targeted education and training activities in GM for health care professionals across various clinical settings, destined mainly for countries where GM is still emerging and adapted to the local context, the needs and assets of stakeholders and the pragmatic possibilities of involved settings. We believe that training the existing workforce and influencing health professionals’ attitudes towards a sensibilization in basic principles of GM, could be a substantial and strategic approach to introducing GM in countries where it is still in its infancy, but also facing a more global challenge of growing requirements of geriatric competences. The pragmatic set of possibilities that the PROGRAMMING CA aims to propose is expected to gain endorsement of key actors and academic societies in the field of European GM (and beyond) with the purpose to ultimately more efficiently approach stakeholders and policy makers and trigger positive change at a national and multinational level.

This ambitious project will be running for 4 years and currently counts more than 160 applications for its Working Groups from 35 European and near neighbouring countries. New applications are always possible through the e-COST platform, for anybody who wishes to join us in this fascinating journey that has just begun!

For more information please visit https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA21122/