Life for older people was more simple 28 years ago. In 1982, the post office issued a set of two stamps on the theme of ‘a time of rest’ featuring an older man and woman in stereotypical village clothes against a background of Zammit Clapp Geriatric Hospital and St. Vincent de Paul Residence for older persons. In 1986, the Department of Medicine provided a few lectures on geriatrics to medical students in their final year almost as an afterthought, with the management of bedsores being the most important topic taught. The future for our idealised ‘Wenzu u Rozi’ older people was evidently to ‘rest’ in institutions where doctors could manage their bedsores. Fast forward to 2015 and I am reading the book Population ageing in Malta:
Multidisciplinary Perspectives. It is a landmark publication showing the vast progress that the study of ageing in Malta has undergone in the last 28 years. The book brings together a wide variety of authors writing accessibly and authoritatively about different aspects of ageing and aged care in Malta from miscellaneous fields such as history, sociology, criminology, professional roles, and the informal, formal and private care sectors. This breadth is also matched by the depth in which subjects are covered. The editors are to be congratulated for providing the structure, introduction and conclusion in one magnificent volume that will inspire and guide
professionals and service planners working in the field of ageing in Malta for years to come. Dr Carmelo Aquilina, St George Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Formosa, M. & Scerri, C. (Eds.) (2015). Population ageing in Malta: Multidisciplinary perspectives. Malta: Malta University Press.
Director of the United Nations International Institute on Ageing, Malta
Marvin Formosa PhD is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta. He holds the posts of Chairperson of the National Commission for Active Ageing (Malta), Rector’s Delegate for the University of the Third Age (Malta), and Director of the International Institute on Ageing United Nations – Malta (INIA). Prof. Formosa published widely in the field of ageing studies, and recent publications included Active and healthy ageing: Gerontological and geriatric inquiries (2018), and The University of the Third Age and active ageing: European and Asian-Pacific perspectives (2019).
He is Country Team Leader (Malta) of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), sits as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Ageing in Developing Countries, and his academic interests include older adult learning, Universities of the Third Age, social class dynamics, feminist gerontology, and critical gerontology.
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