Hanoi (VNA) - According to theWorld Health Organisation (WHO), Vietnam is among the countries with thefastest aging rate in the world, which has widespread and long-term impacts onthe country, requiring comprehensive proactive policies for the elderly.

In 2017, Vietnam has an estimated 10 million elderlyadults. This number is expected to rise to 19 million by 2030 and 28 million by2050, according to information made available at a workshop held earlier thismonth on the implementation of the national action plan on health care for theelderly.

The action plan, approved by the Ministry ofHealth last December, aims to improve health outcomes for older people in the2017-25 period.

Experts said that Vietnamese culture, whichemphasizes filial duties as well as respect for the elderly, should combinewith a fast-growing economy to enable the Government to achieve its statedgoals for elderly care.

Experts said geriatric care in Vietnam faces arange of difficulties. An increasing number of older patients put anever-growing burden on the already struggling healthcare fund. Most diseasesthat afflict older people are chronic and non-communicable, requiring frequentcheck-ups, constant monitoring and medications.

Pham Thang, director of the National Instituteof Gerontology, said the most frequently seen diseases are high blood pressure,diabetes, joint disorders, cancer, or strokes, which demand care for the restof the patient’s life. Elderly people are also the heaviest user of medicines,accounting for 50 percent of all medicines taken. This causes the cost forelderly care to be five to seven times higher than care for younger adults.

In addition, older people have different healthneeds compared to other demographics, making it a necessity to formulate aspecific plan that caters to these needs.

With improving socio-economic conditions,Vietnamese life expectancy has increased to 75.6 – putting it in second placein the region and 56th in the world. However, the country’s disease burdenis tremendous, with each individual suffering from 15.3 years of illnessesduring their life.

Socio-economic development also brings newchallenges for comfortable aging. Though 72.3 percent of elders live with theirchildren, Vietnamese families are becoming increasingly ‘nuclearised,’ raisingthe spectre that future retirees will live alone.

Geriatric healthcare has started to receiveattention from the local to central level, with many community-based caremodels being implemented. However, the geriatric healthcare component in thegeneral healthcare system has not caught up with the drastic demographicchange.

Currently, throughout the country, only 49 outof 69 city-level and provincial-level hospitals have gerontology faculties, andonly three institutes offer gerontology studies.

The action plan aims to remedy this critical shortageby requiring that all city-level and provincial-level hospitals havegerontology faculty and even a separate specialised centre for the olderpatients.

Furthermore, one of the action plan’s targets isthat 80 percent of the elderly are able to care for themselves, by providingthem with necessary basic knowledge and practices, which will help to alleviatecrowding in hospitals.

According to the plan, authorities at all levelswill need to make sure that 100 percent of elderly people have health insurancecards by 2025, and that 80 percent receive at least one medical check-up a yearand maintain up-to-date health profiles.

Presently, 17 centrally-directed cities andprovinces have submitted their own action plans for review.

The General Office for Population and FamilyPlanning is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the action plan in thecountry. — VNA