Abstract
Purpose : China is undergoing an extremely rapid rate of aging of its society, but its present health care system is far from being perfect to satisfactorily support the present elderly society. It is our purpose to give a desirable prospectus of the health care system for the elderly through an analysis of the present status of health care, welfare and economic aspects of the elderly people in China. Methods : By collecting information from currently available statistical reports from Chinese government or academic organizations, we delineated an aging pattern of Chinese society, the health and economic status of the elderly, the burden put on the caregivers, and the consumption pattern of available social resources by the elderly. Results : The characteristics of the aging Chinese society can be summarized as follows : 1) prolonged average life span and low birth rates due to the one-child policy resulting in a drastic aging within the population structure ; 2) while the establishment of health care system was delayed due to the inadequate economic growth, a rapid aging, process emerged ; 3) a rise in the morbidity of chronic diseases and an increase in the number of disabled elderly in need intensive care ; 4) proportion of the elderly living with children has been decreasing due to the rapidly increasing nuclear family and the less positive attitudes toward supporting parents has resulted in a weakened informal support system for the elderly. Therefore, a desirable prospectus for the elderly health care system was considered to consist of 1) cooperation between the health, medical and welfare systems ; 2) abundant supply of the in-home care providers and construction of residential care facilities ; 3) education and support of the elderly for the prolongation of a healthy life expectancy ; and 4) prompt development of training systems for the personnel to coordinate the health care system in the community. Conclusions : For China it is necessary to develop a health care system of its own through an establishment of a social Security system taking the Japanese revolution of health, medical and welfare systems as a preceding model.
