Ageing With Dignity In Hong Kong And Asia

This book advocates the application of holistic and humanistic approaches in elderly care and services to achieve the goal of ageing with dignity in Hong Kong and Asia. It responds to the needs of an increasing ageing population that has to deal with related health needs in long-term care, community health and social services, particularly for chronic conditions and psychosocial support. The book consists of three sections on policy and development of aged care, holistic and humanistic care for older adults, and capacity building for ageing with dignity, respectively. Topics include the latest initiatives in aged care, appropriate services and delivery models, lifestyle modification, psychosocial and environmental considerations, professional development, technologies, and social capital. The chapters review and discuss these issues within a global context, illustrated by examples from Asian countries, underpinned by locally based empirical research. Contributors include academics and practitioners from diversified professional backgrounds that include medicine, nursing, pharmacy, traditional Chinese medicine, dietetics, and allied health. The book traverses into territories in the social sciences, life sciences, and sports sciences, while also touching on areas of business and administration, hospitality, law, public policy, and information technology in connection with public health. The contents serve as a topical reference for tertiary studies in ageing and related disciplines such as well-being and are also useful to policymakers, community and public health practitioners, health executives and interns working in areas of policy and practice pertinent to care development, health delivery models, planning, quality, ethics, better health promotion, professional training, and monitoring for older adults.

The case studies in this book focus on the emergence, extent and nature of national policies on ageing and associated strategies to address long-term care needs. Key opportunities for and constraints on policy are identified in this first round of regional studies.

Ageing in Asia contains a selection of leading social systems and programs, with interesting case-studies offering innovative and useful lessons. The book covers ageing and related developments occurring in the most dynamic industrializing and urbanizing societies of emerging Asia. It includes topical issues such public policies and responses to current challenges from the growing needs of an ageing population due to rise of chronic non-communicable diseases, amidst rapidly changing social, cultural, economic and political changes in the region. The main purpose of the book is to provide useful comparisons of social care systems undergoing rapid transitions, and to offer some examples of best practices and lessons to respond to the changing needs due to population ageing.

This book studies and compares quality of life in 29 countries/societies in Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea(South), Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. We utilize the AsiaBarometer Surveys conducted annually from 2003 through 2008. We focus on the notion of subjective quality of life and conceptualize it as two levels, global and domain. After we explain about the AsiaBarometer Survey Project, we explore current country profile, demographics, lifestyles, value priorities, specific life domain assessment and overall quality of life. We then estimate the independent effects of demographics, lifestyles, value priorities, life domain assessment on the overall quality of life within each society. As well as comparing the results between nations, we look for key generalized characteristics of life quality for the entire and sub-regions of Asia.

This insightful book showcases a range of design, planning and policy responses to ageing populations and the built environment from across the rapidly changing and dynamic Western Asia-Pacific region. Its chapters demonstrate a clear and increasingly convergent preference for and promotion of ageing in place and the need for collaborative efforts to facilitate this at various scales through policy and practice.

Written by researchers and experienced health professionals from Hong Kong, China, Chiu and Law identify and examine important issues of healthy ageing after COVID-19 from research and policy perspectives in the Asian contexts. This book opens with discussions of healthy ageing from personal, social, economic, and political perspectives. These discussions make reference to the key characteristics of a community health model. It aims to examine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on aged care in an international perspective, citing the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong as a case report. Comprehensive analysis on the influence of COVID-19 infection on Hong Kong and the implemented anti-pandemic policy measures, as well as recommendations of post-pandemic policies to promote healthy ageing, are provided. This monograph also reviews the worldwide impacts on aged care during and after the pandemic, as well as the experience of aged care services in Hong Kong and other Asia-Pacific regions. The responding changes in policies and strategies for healthy ageing in selected countries are also reviewed. This monograph ends with a highlight on the design and development of a community model for healthy ageing, providing insights to the achievement of sustainable healthy ageing with reference to the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3. A valuable resource to governments, politicians, academics, and practitioners, it is intended for formulating future directions of relevant research, and the design and implementation of interventions for the promotion of healthy ageing in the post-pandemic era.

This book provides a timely review on what has been accomplished, and what remains amiss, following the World Health Organization’s 1978 ‘Health for All’ campaign, by identifying enduring gaps in health care within a global context. The WHO declaration of "Health for All by the Year 2000" mapped out a road towards primary health care for all people and demarcated it as essential for human progress in terms of economic development and social justice. However, 45 years have gone by, and most societies and countries have yet achieved 'health for all’, despite so much having changed in technology, disease patterns, and population demographics. In promoting community health and improving service delivery, the book advocates the development and implementation of “All For Health” strategies to steer stakeholders in the right direction towards universal health care. The book covers the gaps and actions in health improvements, the ‘All For Health’ strategies, and the Health in All Policies (HiAP), reviewing and discussing issues through both Asian and international examples. Contributors include both academics and practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, dietetics, social sciences, life sciences, education, business, administration, law, and public policy. Essential to scholars in public health and related disciplines, this book is also useful to policymakers, community and public health practitioners, and health care executives and interns.

Around the world, people and societies are at risk of being affected by disasters, both natural and man-made. In the face of climate change and human activity, the threat posed by unexpected disasters is likely to increase in future. This book, the first of its kind in Hong Kong, offers insights from experts in healthcare and higher education both locally and further afield. Some of the authors have first-hand experience with various elements of disaster management through such events as the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, the COVID-19 pandemic, and large-scale competitions including the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Key learnings and recommendations are presented in three sections: disaster management and reconstruction, including what we can learn from past earthquakes; the importance of healthcare and emergency medicine in disasters and community events; and the way forward, in particular how technology and systems thinking can be used for disaster mitigation. By shedding light onto future work in disaster management and emergency medicine in Hong Kong and East Asia, this book aims to contribute to community resilience in the region and beyond. It will be useful for tertiary and postgraduate programmes, teachers and academics, practitioners, healthcare providers, policymakers, and community leaders.