Colette Browning, Professor of Healthy Aging
at Monash University, writes about the Happy Life Club, a chronic illness
management system that she is leading with colleagues at Peking University.
The
demographic profile of the world is changing. Aging is a global phenomenon, an
unprecedented, pervasive, profound and an enduring process for humanity. The
current and future burden and opportunities of this phenomenon are important
for all countries.
Alongside
aging populations, the growing rates of chronic illness globally have been
described as a building “tsunami” for which all governments and societies will
need to prepare.
Our
focus needs to be on optimizing the quality of life for older people through
effective health and social interventions. We need to concentrate on how they
may continue to contribute to, rather than detract from, the prosperity and
social capital.
Healthy
aging approaches recognize the rights and aspirations of older people and also
provide ways to reduce the perceived “burden” of population aging.
In
terms of population aging, China is in a unique position because:
It has
the largest absolute number of older people globally. The number of people aged
over 60 reached 165 million in 2011 and this number is growing.
The
rate of aging is accelerating, and growth of the number of older people within
China is three times the rate of the overall national population increase. This
dynamic growth is in no small measure due to China’s very effective population
growth strategy, especially the one-child policy, which has resulted in major
changes to its demography.
The proportion
of people aged 65 years or over has doubled in 30 years. This same change took
70 years in the United States and 130 years in France.
Currently
13 percent of the total Chinese population is aged 60 years and above (China
population census and population statistics), with 8.2 percent aged 65 years
and above.
It will
experience the increase in aging of its population well in advance of the
levels of economic prosperity reached in developed countries that have had the
same change. In such countries, GDP per capita is much higher than in China.
China –
and other countries significantly affected by aging populations and increased
prevalence of chronic illness – will need an income and social support system,
an effective health system and many other government policies and services to
handle these momentous changes.
When
you examine the patterns of illness that confront aging populations, you can
see that many are changeable. Mature onset diabetes, for example, is avoidable
and can even be reversed with appropriate diet, exercise and social support
regimens.
In
China, the Happy Life Club project is one example of an approach to healthy
aging. I am leading this project with my colleague Professor Tuohong Zhang from
Peking University and my colleagues Dr. Yang Hui and Professor Shane Thomas
from Monash and the Fengtai District government, Beijing.
The
Happy Life Club is a chronic illness management system based upon earlier
Australian work conducted by us and our colleagues. The club trains doctors and
nurses to change the behavior of people with diabetes, and other chronic
conditions such as heart disease, through the use of motivational interviewing
techniques.
Initially
the Happy Life Club intervention was conducted in Fangzhuang, a large
residential area of Beijing. The program has now extended to the larger Fengtai
district of Beijing with plans for further extension to other Chinese cities
and other sites, including Malaysia.
Our
large-scale research shows that the approach is highly effective. We are currently
conducting the Chinese economic modeling, but the Australian modeling showed a
net benefit of AU$16,000 a year for each participant due to improved health and
lower use of services.
Participants
reduced their risk factors, and improved the management of their disease, and
their quality of life and psychological well-being. They also increased their
social networks and were better able to continue their contributions to their
family and society.
Effective,
targeted and proven prevention and management of chronic diseases can not only
save countries with large aging populations a great deal of money but also
results in improved quality of life for older people, facilitating their social
participation. Such approaches contribute to the UN Second World Assembly on
Aging’s call to build “a society for all ages.”
—
By:
Professor Colette Browning, Professor of Healthy Aging at Monash University and
Director of Monash Research for an Aging Society. Professor Browning is
Director of the Happy Life Club research program which has sites in China,
Australia and Malaysia. She is Co-Director of the Melbourne Longitudinal
Studies on Healthy Aging Program, an ongoing 16-year study of older people.
Source: The
Conversation.
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