Responding to the "Silver Challenge" with Internet Thinking
In Tianyuan Park, Zhuanqiao Town, Minhang District, Shanghai, citizens are viewing the golden wedding commemorative photos of more than 30 golden wedding couples.
Xinhua News Agency
On June 2, 2020, at the Puai Embedded Care Center, Zhentou Street, Qiaoxi District, Shijiazhuang, caregivers are helping the elderly with rehabilitation training.
Xinhua News Agency
[Talk about health]
Chongyang Festival every year, now it is Chongyang Festival again. This year, October 25th is the Double Ninth Festival. On this occasion, in addition to greeting elders, expressing filial piety, and promoting the Chinese nation’s virtues of respecting, providing for the elderly, and helping the elderly, we must also face the many problems brought about by an aging society.
At present, our country is in a period of rapid development of population aging, and the lineup of "silver-haired people" is getting bigger and bigger. Compared with developed countries that have entered population aging earlier, my country’s population aging process is ahead of economic and social development, and the aging problem and the problems in transitional development are intertwined and superimposed. Therefore, the "silver challenge" facing my country is even greater. The task is heavier.
1. To deal with the aging of the population, health is the core issue
How big is the "silver-haired race" in our country?
As of the end of 2019, there were approximately 254 million people aged 60 and over in the country, accounting for 18.4% of the total population.
To deal with the challenge of population aging, health is the core issue.
Although the health status of the elderly in my country has improved in recent years, it is still not optimistic.
According to statistics, more than 180 million elderly people have chronic diseases, 75% of whom suffer from one or more chronic diseases, and some 40 million disabled elderly people.
With the rapid development of population aging, the demand for health services of the elderly will increase, posing a severe challenge to economic and social development.
Among the many common diseases in the elderly, Alzheimer's disease brings a heavier burden to the family and society.
Under the current medical conditions, once entering the world of Alzheimer's disease, it means being stuck tightly.
The patient's gradual loss of memory, increasingly bizarre behavior, and unreasonable temper are all draining the family's physical strength, patience, money and even affection.
It is precisely because of this that some people vividly call Alzheimer's disease "a chronic disease of the whole family."
It is understood that the number of patients with Alzheimer's disease in my country not only ranks first in the world, but also has one of the fastest growth rates in the world.
As of 2018, my country's elderly population over the age of 60 has accounted for 17.9% of the country's total population. In the future, the population aged 65 and over will become the fastest growing age group.
After 65 years of age is the peak period of Alzheimer's disease. The disease is the most common type of senile dementia. It is a disease state with impaired brain cognitive function. The risk of disease is highly correlated with age, which seriously threatens the health of the elderly. .
Lu Chunshan, the second-level inspector of the Planning Department of the National Health Commission and the leader of the Publicity Group of the Office of the Healthy China Action Promotion Committee, pointed out on the just past World Alzheimer’s Day that the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to protecting the people in all aspects and throughout the life cycle. health.
In June last year, the State Council launched the "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)", and the "Health Promotion Action for the Elderly" is one of 15 major special actions.
It is of great significance to carry out the health promotion action for the elderly. This special action not only puts forward specific requirements for individuals and society, but also puts forward as many as 12 requirements for the government. Among them, it is required that by 2030, people aged 65 and over in my country will suffer from senile dementia. The rate of growth has declined.
"The health of the elderly is related to family happiness and social harmony." Qi Xinjie, the second-level inspector of the Aging Department of the National Health Commission, also said that promoting healthy aging is an important task for healthy China and a long-term solution to actively respond to the aging of the population.
She said that it is necessary to further advance the requirements of healthy Chinese elderly health promotion actions, enhance the society's awareness of senile dementia prevention, and improve prevention and intervention capabilities.
2. Among many diseases, the harm of Alzheimer's disease has long been underestimated
According to a report issued by the International Alzheimer's Association, there were more than 50 million people with dementia worldwide in 2018, and an elderly person was diagnosed with dementia every 3 seconds on average.
The 2017 National Mental Disease Epidemiological Survey showed that the prevalence rate of senile dementia in people aged 65 and over in my country was 5.56%. Based on this calculation, nearly 10 million elderly people in the country suffer from senile dementia. It is estimated that by 2050, my country’s Alzheimer's disease patients will exceed 40 million.
The huge number of sick people has an increasingly strong demand for medical and health services and long-term care services, which poses severe challenges and higher requirements for the development of elderly health.
"In our country, Alzheimer's disease has three lows, namely, low awareness, low rate of visits, and a lower proportion of patients receiving treatment. Alzheimer's disease patients are often forgotten, neglected, and misunderstood by society." Sun Yongan, deputy chairman and secretary-general of the Association’s Alzheimer’s Disease Branch, and chief physician of the Department of Neurology of Peking University First Hospital, pointed out that, in fact, Alzheimer’s disease can be prevented, but many people do not know or understand it and delay It's time for early diagnosis and treatment.
At the same time, Alzheimer's disease is often called senile dementia. The stigma brought by the name also makes many patients and their families reluctant to seek medical treatment and refuse to talk about the disease.
At the same time, among many diseases, the harm of Alzheimer's disease has been underestimated for a long time.
Zhang Nan, standing committee member and deputy secretary-general of the Alzheimer's Disease Branch of the Chinese Geriatric Health Association, and deputy chief physician of the Department of Neurology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, said that in addition to “stealing” people’s memories, Alzheimer’s disease also causes The patient develops dyskinesias, and the ability to take care of himself gradually declines. In severe cases, behavioral abnormalities may occur, requiring 24-hour care.
In addition, the rapidly growing aging population and the heavy burden of care are pressing issues that society has to face.
In April 2018, Jia Jianping, director of the Department of Neurology of Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, and his team published "Alzheimer's disease in China and worldwide disease burden reassessment", showing that the average cost per person per year for Alzheimer's disease in my country 130,000 yuan, of which more than 67% are indirect medical expenses such as transportation and accommodation expenses and family daily nursing expenses.
3. The family-based pension model puts caregivers under tremendous pressure
As the saying goes, "Hundreds of good filial piety first", due to the influence of traditional concepts such as "filial piety", currently our country mainly focuses on family-style care.
However, many people will find that it is difficult for them to balance the requirements of work and caring for their parents, and it is difficult to find suitable caregivers.
The "International Alzheimer's Disease Association Report" also pointed out that the family-based elderly care model concealed the severity of Alzheimer's disease in the country to a certain extent, and family caregivers are tired of 24-hour uninterrupted care. The body and mind have been under great pressure for a long time, social support resources are short, and the needs of standardized and standardized clinical diagnosis and treatment and humanized care and rehabilitation are far from being met.
The first domestic "Survey Report on the Survival Status of Alzheimer's Disease Patients' Families" released earlier showed that insufficient care capacity, lack of care resources, and single treatment services are the three major dilemmas faced by families of Alzheimer's disease patients.
According to Xie Hengge, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Branch of the Chinese Geriatric Health Association, 5% of Alzheimer's disease patients believe that the decline in memory of the elderly is a natural aging process and there is no need for treatment to delay treatment.
Another 50% of delayed medical visits are related to feelings of helplessness/powerlessness, such as limited time and energy of family members, inconvenient medical visits, lack of ability to pay, taking into account the treatment of other diseases, and not knowing where to go for treatment.
And when it is necessary to talk about the troubles and pressures faced by patients, 60% of the families will not take the initiative to talk about the patient’s condition. Among them, 80% of the families believe that even if they talk about it, they will get some comfort at most, and nothing will change. It also reflects the significant lack of Alzheimer's disease care resources and service capabilities.
Research data shows that 65.43% of caregivers do not see hope for treatment and feel psychological pressure; 68.69% of caregivers’ health is affected; 78.39% of caregivers say that their social life is often affected. This shows that the family health of Alzheimer’s disease patients Urgent attention is needed.
"Caring for patients with Alzheimer's disease at home is a difficult task. After several years of doing it, physically and mentally exhausted, we can't expect the patients to get better." Jiang Jianchun, member of the Alzheimer's Disease Branch of the Chinese Elderly Health Care Association A mother with Alzheimer's disease feels deeply about this.
Jiang Jianchun told reporters that the family members of patients who had no knowledge of nursing before suddenly transformed into caregivers. They will encounter many difficult problems in the care process, and they particularly need the guidance and help of professional medical professionals.
However, with limited medical resources, doctors can only focus more on the treatment of patients, but they have no time to take care of the patients' families.
Wang Xiaoning, director of the Institute of Geriatrics, General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, also mentioned that her mother had been suffering from Alzheimer's for many years and her father had been taking care of her.
The father has no underlying disease, but he walked ahead of his mother without thinking.
The patient is alive, but the family caring for the patient has passed away. This situation is regrettable.
Later, Wang Xiaoning consulted a large number of literatures and found that as early as the 1960s, foreign countries began to pay attention to patients' diseases that would have a huge negative impact on the physical and mental health of relatives and caregivers, and even lead to more serious clinical conditions than patients.
Because spouse has the greatest influence, it is called "mate syndrome".
In our country, this is an area that has been neglected for a long time and needs attention.
4. Leveraging Internet tools and information-based thinking to empower the health promotion of the elderly
"Recently, the General Office of the National Health Commission issued the "Working Plan for Exploring Special Services for the Prevention and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease", marking the official launch of my country’s first national-level Alzheimer’s Prevention and Control Plan. Prevention and treatment capabilities and clear work objectives for dementia prevention and control tasks at this stage provide guidance." Xie Hengge said that at present, to solve the medical and health problems of the elderly with dementia, the country, all walks of life, society and families must work together to overcome it.
Xie Hengge believes that the medical and health industry, as the main body of dementia prevention and treatment, cannot rely solely on neurology, psychiatry, and geriatrics, but also on the active participation of multiple disciplines; it cannot rely solely on medical staff in general hospitals, but also on primary medical and health service personnel. It is not enough to rely solely on clinical medical staff, even if nearly 4 million doctors and more than 4 million nurses across the country are involved in the prevention and treatment of dementia, it is also not enough to rely on the participation of all practitioners in health care institutions; In the health industry, communications, electronics, and the Internet have and will continue to play an irreplaceable role in remote support and loss prevention for the elderly with dementia.
Xu Jun, chief physician of Beijing Tiantan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, also said a few days ago that the combination of online and offline methods can realize the whole-process management of patients with cognitive diseases and use the Internet to help elderly health.
In addition, the state actively encourages and supports in-depth cooperation between scientific research institutions and high-tech enterprises, and makes full use of the Internet, Internet of Things, big data and other information technology to carry out large-scale cohort research, research and development of indicators, standards and methods for determining and predicting elderly health. Wearable health support technology and equipment for the elderly.
Lu Chunshan proposed that, from the perspective of health promotion for the elderly, it is also necessary to make full use of Internet tools and information-based thinking to enable information technology to empower the health promotion of the elderly.
For example, from the perspective of health science popularization, various new media platforms can be developed into a position for health promotion for the elderly. Through the methods and channels that the elderly love to see, reliable experts and reliable knowledge are more accessible.
For another example, early prevention and early control of key diseases can be achieved more efficiently and scientifically through the ever-changing Internet health consultation and health management tools.
(Our reporter Tian Yating)