Analysis by the World Health Organisation shows that negative or ageist attitudes towards older people are globally widespread.
They also negatively affect older people's physical and mental health, and it really doesn't end there.
I'm Ella al Shamahi, and this is the conversation, the program that amplifies women's voices, which is really just a fancy way of saying we get two incredible women from different countries who share in expertise, bring them together and see what happens.
I'm speaking to a Lana officer who is leading the World Health Organization's decade of healthy aging.
She's a New Zealander and physician with a background in exercise and sports science and public health.
And Lena Walker is at AARP, formerly known as the American association of Retired Persons, where she is the vice president of health security in AARpse Public Policy Institute.
She has spent nearly 20 years conducting research and publishing on healthcare and retirement issues.
Welcome to you both.
Good morning from Washington, DC.
Ella thanks, Ella.
I'm grateful to be part of the conversation.
So we are all obviously aging, but from a young age, you both have these personal connections with the topic of ageism.
Alana, tell me about growing up in Australia.
So, Ella, I grew up in rural Australia.
My mother worked at the local hospital attached to which was a nursing home.
So I spent every afternoon after school in that nursing home.
I made friends.
We played cards, read books, gardens.
I helped with reading or writing their letters.
They told me about their lives and they were interested in mine.