Author: Zheng Xiaoying
【Take the pulse】
Healthy aging is not just to maintain the health of the individual in old age, but to maintain the health of the entire life cycle.
The realization of healthy aging is a strategic and overall comprehensive system project. The government, market, society, family and all parties including individuals should be fully mobilized to form a new situation in which all people participate and actively respond.
The World Health Organization defines health as being sound in four aspects: physical health, mental health, good social adaptation, and moral health.
The well-known Indian economist Sen further expanded the concept of health, proposing to understand health from the perspective of "human viable ability" and "freedom to view development".
From this perspective, health is regarded as one of the most important "feasible abilities" and a very basic freedom.
And this reflects the intrinsic value of health.
As a kind of human capital, a kind of social resource and a kind of human well-being, health is also the direct pursuit of personal life and social development.
Under the background of today's aging population, health is not only related to the interests of the elderly, but also related to the country's economic growth potential, and profoundly affects the economic and social development.
Some scholars have proposed that human health factors can generate a "population health dividend" that promotes social and economic growth, improve the happiness of individuals and families, reduce medical and medical expenses, reduce the pressure on social security expenditures, reduce poverty, and improve study, work and Life quality and efficiency, improve the quality and effectiveness of labor resources, promote the development of related industries, increase the vitality and innovation of economic and social development, and increase the level of total economic demand.
At the same time, people's health has an important influence on many aspects such as social technological innovation and industrial structure adjustment.
With the increase of social total factor productivity, the importance of physical factors in social labor production is gradually being diluted.
This allows the elderly’s physical disadvantages in the labor market to gradually disappear. On the contrary, the elderly have rich production experience, mastered advanced technology and rich scientific knowledge. These elements will be transformed into advantages in the modern social production process. An increasingly important role.
At this level, as an important part of social labor resources, healthy elderly people are sufficient to reflect the economic value of the elderly.
Economic value is not only reflected in productive labor, but also in cultural labor.
The scientific and cultural activities that the elderly are engaged in, scientific and technological consultation, teaching and educating people, and writing books can also produce great economic benefits.
The basic research report of the Peking University APEC Institute of Health Sciences (HeSAY) shows that after healthy elderly people participate in economic activities, the national savings rate will be increased, that is, the socio-economic growth potential will be further improved.
And this increase in economic growth potential is caused by the factors of aging health, so it can be attributed to the "aging health dividend" in economic growth.
In addition to economic value, the active participation of the elderly in social and cultural life has also produced considerable social value. For example, the elderly, as the core bond of the family, play an important role in social stability and development, but this part of the value is difficult to be measured. Was ignored.
In addition, health, as the most important well-being of human development, is the eternal theme of the pursuit of personal life and social development.
The advancement and realization of healthy aging and the improvement of the overall health of the population are not only measurable by economic growth indicators. The elderly are the beneficiaries of social development, and they should also be active participants and contributors to society.
In essence, there is no difference between good and bad. The aging problem is by no means the problem of the elderly. Population aging is the result of the increase in productivity and the natural transformation of social development, and can be regarded as an important sign of the progress of human civilization. .
The so-called "problems" or "challenges" of the aging society do not entirely come from the elderly or the aging itself, but more from the contradiction arising from the mismatch between the changed age structure of the population and the current socio-economic structure. Therefore, society is needed. Governance concepts and public policies are adjusted and even reconstructed to adapt.
In the context of the modernization of social governance, my country can achieve path planning for healthy aging from two aspects.
One is to grasp the law of aging from the perspective of human life history.
From the perspective of time, healthy aging embodies a health-weighting process throughout life, and individual aging is also a continuous process that accompanies the entire life cycle.
Similarly, healthy aging is not just about maintaining the health of the individual in old age, but also maintaining the health of the entire life cycle.
Because of this, we actively advocate and implement the "0-year-old anti-aging" project, and move health interventions to infancy or even embryonic stage in order to achieve healthy aging throughout the life cycle.
According to the life course theory, in each life stage, people should develop healthy behaviors, healthy physical fitness, health knowledge and health maintenance functions that are suitable for this stage. If an individual fails to complete a specific health task in a specific life stage, Then his future health will be subject to past health liabilities.
Therefore, the state of health in old age is the result of the continuous accumulation and consumption of health stocks at different ages in the life course. Only from the perspective of the whole life cycle and considering the various stages of individual and group development as a whole can the policy of healthy aging can be consolidated. basis.
The second is to promote the realization of healthy aging with the concept of overall "cooperative governance".
Health promotion for the elderly is not a problem that can be solved by a single individual or subject. It is necessary to integrate the government, social organizations, and individuals to provide multi-dimensional and comprehensive health support for the elderly, so as to effectively improve the health quality of the elderly.
Specifically, the need for collaboration and promotion of society, industry/market, and individuals; collaborative governance of individual behavior, national policies, and social environment; collaboration of government agencies, medical institutions, and social organizations.
The realization of healthy aging is a strategic and overall comprehensive system project. The government, market, society, family and all parties including individuals should be fully mobilized to form a new situation in which all people participate and actively respond. Effectively promote the healthy aging process.
Therefore, we can start from the following four aspects to promote healthy aging in China.
First, it is necessary to clearly take the Healthy China strategy as the guide and strengthen the support and guarantee system for healthy aging. The proposal of the Healthy China strategy has set a goal and pointed out the direction for my country's healthy aging.
To further advance the realization of healthy aging, we must first establish a strong national-level strategic support and guarantee system, and establish a legal and regulatory system for responding to population aging that is compatible with the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities.
Second, take technological progress and industrial development as the starting point to help the process of achieving healthy aging. For the special needs of the elderly, it is necessary to continuously strengthen the research and development and supply of related drugs, encourage innovation, and strengthen key areas in combination with the supply shortcomings in the disease field Research and development of new drugs and technical methods.
At the same time, it is necessary to speed up the development of the industry of rehabilitation aids for the elderly and products suitable for aging, and further exert the advantageous role of traditional Chinese medicine technology in achieving healthy aging.
Third, with the goal of improving the quality of life and well-being of the elderly, optimize the use and allocation of social resources.
From the perspective of life history, increase investment in health in the early and peri-aged years, expand population health reserves, integrate resources, strengthen investment in elderly health, further improve the continuity and integrity of elderly health services, and pay attention to the elderly with disabilities and chronic diseases. , Actively establish an intervention mechanism to block the outcome of illness and disability. In terms of elderly services, we must increase efforts to cultivate long-term care and other elderly health service personnel, and establish a sustainable and affordable financing mechanism.
Fourth, attach importance to the health value of the elderly, and create a good environment for the elderly to actively participate in social and economic construction. Half of the elderly in my country are young people who are fully capable of engaging in economic production activities. How to create an environment for the elderly to actively participate in social and economic construction A good environment is particularly important to realize the value conversion of the elderly.
(Author: Zheng Xiaoying, Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor, Academician of the Academy of Sciences for Developing Countries)