It is estimated that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's elderly population will exceed 300 million

  Harmony of medicine and defense holds up a healthy sunset

  According to statistics, by the end of 2019, the number of elderly people aged 60 and over in China reached 254 million, accounting for 18.1% of the total population, and the number of elderly people aged 65 and over reached 176 million, accounting for 12.6% of the total population.

It is estimated that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's elderly population will exceed 300 million, from a mild aging to a moderate aging stage.

  Health is an important foundation for ensuring the lives of middle-aged and elderly people and participating in society, and it is also an important part of the construction of a healthy China.

Currently, actively responding to population aging has become a national strategy.

  A few days ago, the “Healthy Chinese” roundtable forum of the National People’s Congress and the People’s Congress, guided by the Office of the Healthy China Action Promotion Committee and hosted by People’s Daily Online, invited relevant people to discuss in-depth issues related to disease prevention in middle-aged and elderly groups, and call on the whole society to pay attention to disease prevention in middle-aged and elderly groups to help health China Construction.

  The "little old people" predominantly among the elderly in China

  According to Mao Qun’an, Deputy Director of the Office of the Healthy China Action Promotion Committee and Director of the Planning Department of the National Health Commission, with economic and social development, lower birth rates and longer life expectancy, China’s population aging has a large base and a high proportion. The characteristics of rapid growth have a profound impact on the entire field of economic operation, all aspects of social construction, social and cultural aspects, and even the country's comprehensive strength and international competitiveness.

  "Although the absolute value of the aging population in China is very high, there are still more young and old people, that is, more'little old people'." said Wang Jianye, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the National Center for Geriatrics, who is generally considered to be 80 years old. The above are senior citizens, and those over 90 years old are long-lived people. At present, there are more people in China who are around 70 years old and below.

  "During the two sessions this year, we will focus on how to achieve and promote healthy aging, with particular attention to the problems that deep aging brings to society." To this end, Wang Jianye put forward two suggestions: First, include the geriatrics specialty into the norms of resident physicians. The training rotation project is to reserve gerontal clinical medical talents for the society; the second is to pay attention to the health of the elderly, shorten the life of the elderly with diseases, especially to pay attention to the problems that the coming deep aging will bring to the society.

  Wang Jianye said: “Currently, the average life expectancy in China is 77 years, but according to research, the average healthy life expectancy in China is only 68.7 years, and has been living with illness for more than 8 years. The current aging population structure in China is composed of young people under 70 years old. Lord, in 10 years, our country will enter a deeply aging society. Under such a background, achieving and promoting healthy aging is essential to alleviate social and family pressures."

  Promote suitable vaccines for middle-aged and elderly people

  "Nearly 75% of the elderly in China suffer from at least one chronic disease, and one in five of the elderly suffer from three or more chronic diseases." said Wu Jing, director of the Chronic Disease Center of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic diseases have become the main cause of death. Causes and major disease burdens. In 2019, China's deaths due to chronic diseases accounted for 88.5% of the total deaths, of which 80.7% were due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases. The prevention and control work is facing huge challenges.

  "In the face of multiple diseases and coexistence of multiple diseases, our prevention and control should be advanced, prevention first, multiple diseases co-reduction, co-management and co-prevention of multiple diseases." Wu Jing said, China's comprehensive approach to chronic diseases Prevention and control measures are also applicable to middle-aged and elderly people.

To put it simply, China has “3, 3, 3” measures for the prevention and control of chronic diseases, which are aimed at three groups of people-the whole population, the high-risk population, and the diseased population, focusing on three links-controlling high-risk factors, early diagnosis and early diagnosis. Treatment, standardized management, using three methods-health promotion, health management, disease management.

  "In comprehensive prevention and control,'prevention first' is China's long-term health policy, and it has never changed." Wu Jing said, although "prevention first" is only four words, its implementation is a systematic social project.

  "Prevention-oriented implementation should be the whole chain, including prevention concepts, knowledge, capabilities, conditions, and preventive behaviors." Wu Jing said that through the combination of medicine and prevention, many diseases can be confined within a controllable range, such as It is recommended that middle-aged and elderly people be vaccinated with appropriate vaccines, such as pneumonia, flu or shingles vaccine, which will help improve the overall health of middle-aged and elderly people.

  "I think the most important thing is health education. The industry often says that health education is a'social vaccine', because many diseases are already present when they are young or middle-aged. So this problem must be tackled from the beginning of a baby." Wang Jianye It is said that the overall health literacy of the whole people should be improved, including diet, exercise, personal habits, and elimination of bad habits.

  In this regard, Liang Xiaofeng, full-time vice president and secretary-general of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, said that disease prevention in the middle-aged and elderly population should start with a healthy lifestyle and cultivate the awareness of timely medical treatment.

At the same time, the health system, social system, and service system must create a social environment suitable for the elderly.

  Wang Huaqing, chief expert of the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Immunization Planning Center, said that “prevention first” is very important in protecting the health of middle-aged and elderly people, and vaccines are very cost-effective and effective disease prevention measures because of their obvious effects, high cost-effectiveness, and convenient operation.

  “The best way for a vaccine to play a huge role is to ensure the fairness of vaccination.” Wang Huaqing said, this means that more types of vaccines will be included in the national immunization program, and the population who should be vaccinated will be vaccinated for free. The availability of vaccines.

  The community can act as a gatekeeper to residents' health

  At present, some cities have included the vaccinations for middle-aged and elderly people in their immunization programs, and provide them with influenza vaccine and pneumonia vaccine vaccination services.

For example, Guangzhou has included the household registration elderly over 65 years old into the scope of free influenza vaccination.

The introduction of other innovative vaccines not included in the immunization program also provides further protection for the healthy life of middle-aged and elderly people.

  Liang Xiaofeng pointed out that compared with the child vaccination service system, the adult vaccination service system still needs to be improved.

Vaccinations for middle-aged and elderly people need doctors and nurses to "keep up" and a large number of volunteers to "keep up". This requires a lot of social organization.

In recent years, medical technology has developed rapidly. Many innovative adult vaccines such as herpes zoster vaccine and cervical cancer vaccine have been launched in China. All sectors of society should work together to let middle-aged and elderly people know about and vaccinate innovative vaccines, so as to prevent diseases and improve health. the goal of.

  Chang Jianmin, director of the Department of Dermatology at Beijing Hospital, pointed out that in addition to chronic diseases, middle-aged and elderly people tend to become susceptible to many other diseases because their immunity continues to decline with age.

In addition to the well-known flu and pneumonia, elderly people or people with weakened immune systems are also at high risk of shingles.

The incidence and severity of shingles increases with age, especially after the age of 50.

"Vaccination is an effective means of prevention and control, which can produce more than 90% of the protective effect in middle-aged and elderly people aged 50 and above." Chang Jianmin said.

  The promotion of healthy aging is inseparable from the "health housekeeper" beside the common people-community hospitals.

Wu Hao, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of the Fangzhuang Community Health Service Center in Fengtai District, Beijing, said: “Public hospitals are responsible for medical care, and disease control departments are responsible for prevention and scientific research. If the two are combined, I think it may be in the community. The health service center forms a point of intersection and integration."

  Wu Hao believes that the community, as a "health consultant" around the people, can provide the public with services such as chronic disease management and vaccination, and play more of a role as a health gatekeeper for the integration of medicine and prevention.

  Reporter: Wang Meihua