There are six key factors to improve life expectation among the population according to Selman: motivation, healthy food, and health, physical and cultural activities and a right environment. He said that when a person can have access to all six, he will be able to live an "active longevity."
Selman is the current president of the Caribbean Medical association (AMECA) and the "120 years old Club" in Cuba, which gathers people that aspire to live that long based on a healthy life style.
This Congress will focus its debates, among its 180 participants, on analyzing the environment factors that influence the quality of life of elder people. As part of the tradition, the event started with a group of elder people walking along their families in the areas surrounding theHotel Nacional, venue of the congress, in Havana city.
On Thursday, the delegates will meet with a representation of Cuban centenarians.
Life expectancy in Cuba is one of the highest in the region, 78, with women living as an average 4 years longer than men, 80 to 76. Cuban deputy health Minister Luis Struch said the goal is to raise life expectancy to 80 in the near future.
Close to 2 million people are 60 or older, according to official data, and within the next fifteen years it should reach 3 million, a quarter of the Cuban population at that time.
Cuba 50 