Even though still relatively recent, the longevity movement has already achieved significant milestones in terms of public outreach, dissemination, and adoption of its goals.

International Policies on Aging The effort to emphasize the need to strengthen biomedical research of aging was undertaken at the WHO Consultation on the Global Strategy and Action Plan on Aging and Health (GSAP) in October 2015 (World Health Organization 2015). In November 2017, the WHO published a draft of its 13th Work Programme, which did not include propositions that would address the problems emerging due to population aging. The longevity advocacy organizations, such as the International Society on Aging and Disease, International Federation on Aging, International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Vetek (Seniority) Association, Life Extension Advocacy Foundation, International Longevity Alliance (ILA), Biogerontology Research Foundation (BGRF), and others, formed a coalition (Stambler et al. 2018) that took part in the public consultation on the Work Programme to promote a number of improvements. Two of the most important changes achieved were the introduction into the WHO Work Programme of healthy life expectancy as a way to measure the effectiveness of public health programs and the commitment to implement the activities included in the WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health, which include a call for enhanced clinical research on the etiology of and treatments for age-related diseases and conditions (World Health Organization 2018). Another significant project of the movement is the introduction of the special extension code “Ageing-related” into the ICD-11 (The L.D.E. 2018). The proposed code, jointly developed by the experts of BGRF, ILA, and the Council for Public Health and the Problems of Demography (CPHD), can be used for relevant conditions listed in ICD-11 as well as applied to newly recognized conditions in the future. ICD codes are mandatory for the registration of all new drugs and therapies, and the recognition of aging as a pathogenic process is a big step forward in removing the regulatory obstacles and promoting the development of interventions targeting aging and age-related diseases.

Local Policies on Aging The goal of increasing governmental support and public funding for fundamental and translational research on the mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases is not easy to achieve, first of all, because the process of lobbying the related changes to the local legislation requires participation and active support of multiple stakeholders, each of which has to be properly informed. Several higher-level advocacy initiatives were undertaken, such as the “Longevity Dividend” initiative in the USA, since around 2006 (Olshansky et al. 2006) and the ongoing efforts to lobby for biomedical aging research in the US congress. In Israel, there have been persistent advocacy efforts to emphasize the importance of enhancing biomedical research of aging to improve healthy longevity for the population. The advocacy for the “Law Proposal for the Establishment of the National Advisory Committee for the Promotion of Longevity and Quality of Life for the Elderly Population” in Israel has been ongoing since July 2012. Several national conferences entitled “Pathways to Healthy Longevity” were held since 2013. With a strong contribution from such efforts, there have been issued governmental calls for research proposals specifically addressing this issue, such as the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology’s program to enhance the scientific and technological infrastructure for the elderly (since 2014), the Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership on Ageing – BIRAX Ageing in 2018, the Prime Minister’s Innovation Prize with a focus on medical technologies for healthy aging in 2018, and others. As a part of preparation of the Knesset National Masterplan on Aging, a special section was proposed for “Enhancing the research, development, and education for the promotion of healthy longevity and prevention of aging-related diseases” in 2018. Organizations like Vetek (Seniority) – the Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life, Israeli Longevity Alliance, and Disabled Not Half a Person – have been at the forefront of longevity advocacy in Israel (Vetek 2019). In 2015 in Russia, the experts from CPHD took part in the preparation of the State Strategy of Action in the Interest of the Older Generation. Their participation allowed to include several propositions promoting research on the mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases and public education programs about the potential and advances of gerontology and geriatrics. In 2016, there took place the initiatives by the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), Alliance for Aging Research (AAR), and Global Health Policy Institute (GHPI) to support the organization of the clinical trial of metformin, a promising geroprotective drug, for the FDA-approved study entitled “Targeting Aging with Metformin: TAME” (Hall 2015; Newman et al. 2016). Metformin was one of the very first drugs that was found to positively affect human life span (Bannister et al. 2014). However, the absence of explicit regulatory frameworks to recognize degenerative aging as a diagnosable and treatable medical condition (Stambler 2017a) represents a barrier for testing such interventions with the aim of a healthy life extension. The success of the campaign in support of TAME set a precedent for more clinical trials of interventions targeting the mechanisms of aging to prevent, postpone, and eventually cure age-related diseases.

Education and Outreach Programs Longevity advocacy organizations are educating the public by generating and spreading the educational content (articles, interviews, explanatory videos, recorded webinars, talks and streams, educational games). There are several niche newsmakers covering aging and longevity research (with different ranges of outreach): Lifespan.io, FightAging, LongLongLife, Longevity Reporter, Longevity Technologies, Geroscience, LongevityForAll, and others. Most of longevity advocacy organizations have their own monthly newsletter with a rather modest following. There are several websites that work as scientific encyclopedias focused on aging and longevity research, for instance, the Russian project Nestarenie.ru and Senescence.info in the UK.

Events The community is promoting its ideas through different events that range from completely scientific in nature to edutainment and entertainment. Several significant conferences with a strong focus on promoting the development of biotechnologies to bring aging under medical control included Undoing Aging (jointly organized by SENS Research Foundation and Forever Healthy Foundation in Berlin, Germany), Genetics of Aging and Longevity (traditionally organized in Russia), the International Conference on Aging and Disease of the International Society on Aging and Disease (held since 2014 in China, the USA, and France), Eurosymposium on Healthy Ageing (organized by Healthy Life Extension Society – HEALES – in Brussels, Belgium), Ending Age-Related Diseases (organized by Lifespan.io in New York City, USA), and many others.

Campaigns Even though the projects of longevity activists are mostly autonomous, several concerted international actions, dedicated to the promotion of biomedical and biological research of aging and longevity, have been undertaken by various groups of advocates. The method of organization is usually via personal contacts and joint consultations of longevity research activists, as well as public calls to actions. The importance of taking personal responsibility for the organization and personal contacts cannot be overestimated. Some of the concerted actions, involving longevity activists groups from several countries, included the “Future of Longevity” campaign around the “Future Day” on March 1, 2013, and the “Metchnikoff Day” – around May 15, 2015 – in honor of the anniversary of the founder of gerontology, Elie Metchnikoff. Yet, perhaps the most successful and wide-reaching is the so-called “International Longevity Day” campaign, which has been organized since 2013, around October 1 – the UN “International Day of Older Persons.” Perhaps unintentionally, “the day of older persons” may appear value-neutral and indifferent toward the “older persons,” while the “longevity day” celebrating and aspiring to healthy longevity for all may be more uplifting. Yet, as this is the officially recognized “UN International Day of Older Persons,” this has provided the longevity research activists a good opportunity to emphasize the importance of aging and longevity research for the development of effective health care for the elderly, in the wide public as well as among decision-makers. In 2013, events during or around that day – ranging from small meetings of friends to seminars and rather large conferences, alongside special publications, distributions of outreach materials (petitions and flyers), and media appearances – were held in over 30 countries, in 2014 in over 20 countries, and in 2015 in over 40 countries (Longevity for All 2018).