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Greater effort needed to improve healthcare for the elderly: Experts

Nearly 12 percent of Vietnam’s population of 98.7 million are elderly, with 60 percent living in poor health conditions, according to Nguyen Hong Quan, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Community Health Education (VACHE).
Greater effort needed to improve healthcare for the elderly: Experts ảnh 1Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Nearly 12 percent of Vietnam’spopulation of 98.7 million are elderly, with 60 percent living in poor health conditions,according to Nguyen Hong Quan, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Community Health Education (VACHE).

An elderly person in Vietnam has from three to six diseasesand more effort is needed to care for them, Quan told a forum in Hanoi on December16 about care of the elderly’s health in the community.

The proportion of the elderly in Vietnam’s population isforecast to reach 17.9 percent in 2025 and 23.5 percent by the middle of the century,he added.

On October 13, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued DecisionNo 1579/QD-TTg approving a programme to provide healthcare services to the elderlyto 2030, laying the foundation for stronger activities to care for their health.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee forSocial Affairs Bui Sy Loi told the forum that average life expectancy in Vietnamis relatively high at 74.4 but living conditions can be quite difficult, dependingon their offspring.

They bear the burden of illness and chronic disease aswell as the risk of becoming disabled, requiring high treatment costs. Meanwhile,the quality of healthcare in general and elder health in particular are yet to meetthe needs of a rapidly-aging population, he said.

He underlined that the building of a friendly environmentfor the elderly as well as the implementation of long-term healthcare programmesin the community have yet to be given adequate attention, and the ratio of elderlycovered by health insurance remains modest.

Loi said that in order to reach targets in elderly healthcareprogrammes to 2030, it is necessary to enhance the Party and Government’s leadershipand direction in the field, along with more communications to call for the engagementof families and the community as a whole in caring for the elderly.

Meanwhile, relevant agencies need to develop the initialhealthcare system and improve the quality of efforts preventing the spread of non-communicablediseases and providing healthcare services for the elderly, gradually building along-term care programme for them, he said.

Vice President of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly,Nguyen Hoa Binh, proposed the building of a network of nursing facilities for theelderly based on expanding nursing for in-need people, along with the piloting ofa public-private partnership model on providing nursing services to the elderly./.
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