Elderly women doing physical exercise in the Hoan Kiem Lake area in Hanoi’s centre. (Photo: VNA) Da Nang (VNA) – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), incoordination with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA),on May 31 organised a workshop in Da Nang city to review the pilot implementation of anintegrated elderly care model and orientation to building an ecosystem of this work in Vietnam.
Vietnam now has about 7.4million elderly people aged from 65, accounting for 7.7 percent of itspopulation, and the number is expected to rise to 22.3 million,making up 20.4 percent by 2050.
The country officially entered the "aging phase" in 2011, and isamong the most rapidly aging countries in the world.
According to Le Bach Duong, UNFPA Assistant Representative in Vietnam, building an elderly care ecosystem for Vietnam is an inevitabletrend.
The workshop is a goodopportunity for agencies to share experiences in implementing the integratedcare model for the elderly as well as orientation for the future development ofVietnam's elderly care ecosystem, he said.
The UNFPA has supported the MOLISAto build and implement out an integrated care model for the elderly in localities including Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Vinh Long and Da Nangwith financial support from the Government of Japan and the United NationsSustainable Development Goals Fund.
After six months of pilotimplementation, the model has proved to be effective, Duong said, citing thefact that more than 1,000 caregivers at social protection centres andcaregivers of the elderly at home have been trained to improve their capacityand skills.
Participants at the event exchangedexperiences and listen to an introduction about an integrated care model frameworkfor the elderly./.
