China Focus: China in quest of healthy aging
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E-mail Xinhua, November 05, 2024
BEIJING, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- At a cafe in the Chinese metropolis Shanghai, a recruitment poster is put up at a prominent position, seeking waitstaff aged between 60 and 85 with declining memory.
The cozy Memory Cafe, part of a multi-functional elderly service center in the Changning District, is a public-interest facility for elderly citizens at risk of cognitive impairment.
It is hoped that, by assisting as cashiers or pantry staff, the elderly employees can intervene in their cognitive disorder and rebuild their connection with society, according to the center manager Xi Qing.
"Working here is very interesting and meaningful. It enriches our lives and helps us interact with society," said a waitress surnamed Tang, who is 75.
Since its opening at the beginning of this year, the cafe has benefited more than 3,300 elderly people by the end of August. It is a vivid embodiment of China's proactive efforts to ensure its people grow old in a healthy way.
Healthy aging means to prolong people's "health span" -- the number of years one lives with functional physical and mental capabilities -- as much as possible, according to Chinese scholars of population aging studies.
It can help ease the disease burden of the elderly population and unleash potential of work capacity, Zhao Yaohui, a professor at Wuhan University, elaborated on the concept at the 2024 Beijing Forum, which brought its main event to a close on Sunday.
China is experiencing a profound demographic change as its population rapidly ages. Official statistics show that the number of people aged 60 or above in the country is nearing 300 million, and the average life expectancy has reached 78.6 years. However, many people live with poor functional abilities in their later years.
This demographic restructuring impels the country to shift its focus from lengthening the life span to increasing the health span, and to prioritize quality of life to a greater degree.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), healthy aging emphasizes enabling older people to remain a resource for their families, communities and economies.
"Medical service system should encourage and help the elderly to continue participating in social activities. They also need to shift their task from disease treatment to early prevention and intervention," according to Qiao Jianrong, a coordinator with the WHO in China.
Zhao also believes that the key to healthy aging in China is to ensure that old people maintain normal body functions despite chronic disease.
About 190 million elderly people in China are living with a chronic disease, and more than 75 percent of them have more than one, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
"Chronic disease has become the primary cause of death among elderly people, and it deprives them of functional capabilities in some cases," Zhao told Xinhua during an interview at the academic forum.
To curb chronic disease, the NHC initiated rounds of actions to prevent diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, all of which have high incidence rates among the elderly.
Additionally, the commission launched a campaign in August to strengthen health services for elderly people who are not able to take care of themselves.
The initiative of healthy aging has stricken a chord across the country. Beijing, the capital city where more than 30 percent of its population is over 60, had conducted 324,000 screens on its senior citizens prone to lose functional abilities by the end of last year.
"Treating a single disease is not enough to address the health problem of the elderly. We need to focus on their function maintenance and life quality and deal with the 'aging problem' in a comprehensive way," said Sun Xiaohong, executive deputy director of the Department of Geriatric Medicine, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, one of the most prestigious hospitals in China.
China is redoubling efforts to develop geriatric medicine, which integrates clinical treatment and disease prevention with care and rehabilitation services to provide one-stop diagnosis and treatment services for elderly patients.
Yang Jialuan, 94, was enrolled in a geriatric medicine ward after a fracture surgery at a hospital in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province. Besides ordinary nursing services, the nonagenarian also received bedsore treatment and rehabilitation there.
Yang's relatives said the department of geriatric medicine is of great convenience as it has freed patients like Yang from having to shuttle between different departments.
By 2025, more than 60 percent of the country's comprehensive hospitals at county and city levels are expected to establish such specialized departments.
Zhao also discussed the health determinants of elderly people, saying that healthy aging concerns the entire life cycle. "About 80 percent of the determinants relate to social factors such as economic growth, dieting and weight control," she analyzed.
"That means we need to raise the public health awareness at an early age. For example, youngsters should get rid of unhealthy lifestyles such as staying up late, consuming too much time on electronic devices and eating high-sugar foods," Zhao told Xinhua.
Healthy aging is one of the lowest-cost and most effective ways to cope with population aging for China, according to Liu Fang, an NHC official in charge of elderly health. Enditem
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