There Is Any Progress in Our Country's Ageing Work
The report of the Party's 20th National Congress pointed out that the strategy of actively responding to the aging population will be implemented. By the end of 2021, the elderly population aged 60 or above will reach 267 million, accounting for 18.9 percent of the total population. By 2035, the elderly population aged 60 or above will exceed 400 million, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total population and entering the stage of severe aging. Over the past ten years, what progress has been made in our work on aging? What are the next steps?
A total of 1.03 billion people participated in basic old-age insurance nationwide
On September 20, 2022, the National Health Commission held a press conference to introduce the progress and achievements of the work on aging since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Wang Haidong, director of the Department of Aging of the National Health Commission, said at the conference that the top-level design of the work on aging has been strengthened. The active response to the aging population has been identified as a national strategy. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council have successively issued the National Medium and Long Term Plan for Actively Coping with Population Aging and Opinions on Strengthening the Work on Aging in the New Era. The State Council has successively issued the 13th and 14th Five-Year Plan for the development of the National Cause for Aging and the Plan for the Elderly Service system, and held the first National Conference on Aging since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The policy system for aging work in the new era has been continuously improved.
We will improve the multi-tiered old-age security system. The subsidy system for elderly people with financial difficulties and disabilities was implemented at all provincial-level levels. The social welfare system for disabled people effectively covers the disabled elderly. By the end of 2021, 1.03 billion people were covered by basic old-age insurance. Since 2012, the minimum pension for basic old-age insurance for non-working urban and rural residents has been raised four times, with the average monthly pension for non-working urban and rural residents reaching 179 yuan in 2021.
We will improve the supply of elderly care services. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the central government allocated about 5 billion yuan to support 203 regions in carrying out pilot reforms of home-based and community-based elderly care services, and 2.2 billion yuan from 2021 to 2022 to support the implementation of action projects to improve basic home-based and community-based elderly care services. By the first quarter of 2022, there were 360,000 elderly care institutions and facilities nationwide, with 8.126 million beds. In 2021, 62 percent of newly built urban residential areas in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) met the standards for providing services for the elderly. The central government budgeted nearly 1.2 billion yuan to support the construction of 43 special care hospitals and 28 honor homes.
Mainstream drugs for common diseases of elderly patients were purchased in a centralized way, and their prices dropped by more than 50% on average
We will improve health management and services for the elderly. Since 2018, the state has organized centralized drug procurement to cover mainstream drugs for common diseases of elderly patients, reducing the average price of drugs by more than 50 percent, effectively reducing the burden of medical care for elderly patients. From 2012 to 2022, per capita government subsidies for basic public health services increased from 25 yuan to 84 yuan, and by 2021, 120 million elderly people aged 65 and above will receive health management services in urban and rural communities. We will continue to promote targeted rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities, and provide basic rehabilitation services to 3.783 million disabled elderly people in 2021. Progress has been made in the construction of geriatric medicine departments. By the end of 2021, 53.4 percent of secondary and above public general hospitals had established geriatric medicine departments.
We will deepen the integration of medical and nursing care. The General Office of the State Council forwarded the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Integration of Medical and Health Services with Elderly Care Services, and multiple departments jointly issued the Opinions on Further Promoting the Development of Integrated Medical and Nursing Care Services to improve the policy system of integrated medical and nursing care services. By the end of 2021, China had a total of 6,492 medical and nursing institutions with complete certificates (qualified as medical and health institutions and registered as old-age care institutions), an increase of 76.7% over the end of 2017; The total number of institutional beds was 1.75 million, up 176.9% from the end of 2017. Nearly 79,000 medical and nursing contracts were signed nationwide, 6.6 times the number in 2017.
Facilitating medical treatment for the elderly. It has issued the Notice on the Construction of Geriates-friendly Medical Institutions and other documents, made it easier for the elderly to seek medical treatment from the aspects of geriates-friendly culture, management, service and environment, and launched 10 measures, including the establishment of a rapid pre-check channel for the elderly, to strengthen home medical services for the elderly. By the end of 2021, China had built 5,290 general hospitals with age-friendly medical institutions, 15,431 community-level medical and health institutions, and over 9,000 secondary and above general hospitals with "green channels" for the elderly.
Expanded the participation of senior citizens in society, and set up more than 40,000 education and learning centers for senior citizens at the grassroots level
Developing education for the elderly. The General Office of the State Council issued the Development Plan for Education for the Elderly (2016-2020), and 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) issued education plans or policy documents for the elderly. Relying on its educational system, the National Open University has established provincial-level open universities or specialized institutions for the elderly, and set up more than 40,000 education and learning centers for the elderly at the grassroots level. We will actively promote the preparation of the National University for Senior citizens. The first batch of military universities for senior citizens was established.
Promote the full participation of the elderly in cultural and sports activities. Public cultural facilities at all levels are now open to the elderly free of charge, tourist attractions at various places have introduced preferential policies for senior citizens to waive or cancel tickets, and measures have been introduced to improve the suitability of cultural venues and tourist attractions for aging. The Opinions on Further Strengthening Physical Education for the Elderly Under the New Situation have been issued to promote the active participation of the elderly in national fitness. Public sports venues are open to the elderly free of charge or at a low fee, and sports parks are built to set up fitness areas for the elderly.
Encourage the elderly to play an active role. We will strengthen the building of grassroots Party organizations for retired officials and employees. A national "double first" commendation conference for retired officials was held to encourage retired officials to give full play to their advantages and roles. We will guide and organize veteran comrades and Party members to help prevent and control the epidemic. Retired teachers and medical personnel have been encouraged to continue to play their role by carrying out "Yinling Lectures", "old experts Serving community-level health" and "Yinling Action".
Promoted the building of an age-friendly society, and completed the renovation of 164,000 households of elderly people with special difficulties to accommodate their aging
We will strengthen preferential treatment and protection of the rights and interests of the elderly. The General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on the Formulation and Implementation of Elderly Care Services, specifying 20 key tasks for elderly care services. Since 2012, legal aid agencies nationwide have handled more than 1.098 million legal aid cases for the elderly. In 2022, the Commission of Politics and Law of the CPC Central Committee led a multi-department joint campaign to crack down on pension fraud, and severely punished illegal and criminal activities of pension fraud in accordance with the law. By August 17, 2022, a total of 17,000 cases of pension fraud had been solved, 34,000 suspects had been arrested, 2,212 pension fraud gangs had been dismantled, and the stolen goods recovered had lost 15.5 billion yuan.
We will make steady progress in building a livable environment for the elderly. From 2019 to 2021, construction began to renovate 115,000 old urban residential areas, benefiting more than 20 million households, installing 51,000 elevators, and adding more than 30,000 community service facilities such as elderly care and meal assistance. By the end of 2021, comprehensive service facilities in all urban communities and 79.5 percent in rural communities will be available to the elderly, children and other groups. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), 164,000 households with special difficulties will be renovated for aging, and during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, 2 million households with special difficulties will be renovated for basic projects and equipped with supplies for the elderly. From 2016 to 2020, nearly 200,000 poor elderly people with severe disabilities received barrier-free renovations at home.
Efforts should be made to solve the elderly's difficulties in using smart technologies. More than 20 documents have been issued to facilitate elderly people's travel, medical treatment, payment and affairs. The government has set up Windows for public security household registration, traffic management, and entry and exit permits for the elderly, optimized and upgraded the "Internet plus public security government services", and comprehensively improved public security services and management for the elderly. Major online car-hailing platforms have added a "one-click car-hailing" function for the elderly to make it easier for them to take taxis.
Plans to have more than 9 million beds for the elderly by 2025
On August 30, 2022, at the 36th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress, Ma Xiaowei, Director of the National Health Commission, proposed to accelerate the establishment and improvement of relevant policy systems and institutional frameworks, promote high-quality development of undertakings for aging, and find a path with Chinese characteristics to actively respond to the aging population.
In terms of accelerating the construction of the old-age service system, the basic role of public old-age service institutions in providing basic old-age service should be brought into play, and the district old-age service centers or service complexes for the elderly should be developed. Support social forces in providing day care, meals, cleaning and rehabilitation services for the elderly. In conjunction with the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, we will strengthen the construction of rural old-age service institutions and facilities, and encourage the development of mutual-assistance services for the elderly by relying on village-level neighborhood support centers and rural happiness homes. By 2025, the number of nursing beds for the elderly will exceed 9 million, and nursing beds in nursing institutions will account for 55 percent of the total.
In terms of improving the health service system for the elderly, China will increase the coverage of contracted services for the disabled, seriously ill and elderly by family doctors. We will strengthen early screening, intervention and classification guidance for chronic diseases and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's among the elderly. We will continue to do a good job in preventing and treating the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will strengthen the development of geriatric medicine departments in secondary and above general hospitals, and by 2025, more than 60 percent of these hospitals will have geriatric medicine departments.
In terms of promoting the social participation of the elderly, policies and measures have been introduced to promote the development and utilization of human resources for the elderly, and to give full play to the role of the younger elderly. We will incorporate education for the elderly into the lifelong education system, and formulate policies and measures for the development of education for the elderly. We will encourage universities for the elderly run by government departments, industrial enterprises and universities to be open to the public, and by 2025, every county (city, district and banner) should have at least one university for the elderly.
