UPPI Prof. Grace Cruz Advocates Longitudinal Ageing Data at APA Webinar to Advance Healthy Ageing
Prof. Grace Cruz of UPPI presents at a webinar organized by the Asian Population Association
Dr. Grace T. Cruz of the UP Population Institute was featured as a speaker for the Asian Population Association’s “Dialogue on Asia’s Demographic Future,” a webinar held via Zoom on 30 September 2026.
With population ageing in Asia accelerating at an unprecedented rate, Prof. Cruz highlighted the importance of longitudinal ageing studies in tracking ageing dynamics and trajectories to establish robust long-term healthcare systems and address the diverse socioeconomic needs of the older population.
As East and Southeast Asia become the world’s fastest ageing regions driven by declining fertility and longer life expectancies, Dr. Cruz outlined the serious challenges ahead, including the rising burden of non-communicable diseases and multimorbidity, strain on families and caregivers, and pressure on pension systems. Therefore, she argued that longitudinal evidence is needed more than ever to shape ageing policies and interventions.
She also gave an overview of Asian and international longitudinal ageing studies, such as the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and the World Health Organization’s Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE). These studies capture the economic, social, family, environmental, and other relevant domains to get a clearer picture of the ageing experience across diverse contexts and countries. For instance, these studies revealed the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage on ageing and the influence of health shocks on long-term care needs and living arrangements for older people.
Focusing on the Philippines, the Longitudinal Study on Ageing and Health in the Philippines (LSAHP) is conducted to examine the overall wellbeing, health determinants, and health transitions of Filipino older people. As LSAHP’s principal investigator, Dr. Cruz showcased the scholarly and policy impact of the study–from being cited in legislative bills and national development plans, to becoming a prominent theme in the national and international academic and policy discussions. Now on its third wave, studies such as LSAHP prove how longitudinal ageing evidence can be instrumental in promoting healthy and inclusive aging.
Finally, Dr. Cruz believes that longitudinal evidence is needed to understand unique ‘ageing stories’ across Asian countries, expressing concern that gaps in longitudinal data infrastructure in Asia still remain, hampering support for inclusive ageing research, policy, and planning.
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