VIET NAM: Gerontologists Discuss Care For The Elderly

. HA NOI, Viet Nam / Nhan Dan Daily / November 16, 2007: Viet Nam will become a nation with old population within the next ten years, though the country now has a young population, Vice Heath Minister Nguyen Thi Xuyen made the forecast at a national symposium on the elderly, held in Ha Noi on November 15. The rate of old people is on the rise, estimated to hit 16.6% in 2029 or doubling the rate in 1999 (8.1%), experts said. At the symposium, gerontologists from Viet Nam , Belgium , Malaysia , Sweden and Singapore presented 12 reports on health care for the elderly, focusing on matters relating to diseases of old people such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, stroke and others. The scientists exchanged experience with the aim of improving the quality of health care for the aged people in Viet Nam. Viet Nam is facing challenges in caring for the elderly, as the number of gerontologists is still limited. The country now has a national geriatric hospital while almost all provincial hospitals have not set up geriatric wards. Sanatoriums and functional rehabilitation centres for the elderly still fail to meet the demand. The participants proposed that media work to raise the public awareness about the elderly, communal medical stations improve work to care for them, and mass organisations and families help give better care for their health. (VNA) Nhan Dan Daily