Healthcare promotion urged for Thailand’s ageing society
As the number of elderly people in Thailand continues to rise, Department of Health director-general Dr Panpimol Wipulakorn predicted on Monday that the country would have more than 20.5 million senior citizens by 2040. She therefore instructed all public officials to urgently conduct healthcare promotion to tackle age-induced ailments.
Panpimon made her comments while attending a health promotion seminar in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, on sustainable promotion of “elderly club” activities nationwide.
The campaign has three target groups: those “pre-ageing” people (aged 54-59) who will become elderly in the near future, senior citizens aged over 60 and those who are elderly and housebound.
Panpimon said the number of senior citizens in Thailand had risen from 7.5 million in 2010 to 9.7 million in 2014 and the Kingdom was heading towards being an ageing society, in which 20.5 per cent of the population would be over 60 by the year 2040.
“Thailand must give priority to health promotion and urgently tackle health issues among senior citizens,” she said.
Panpimon pointed out that about 41 per cent of elderly people currently suffer from high blood pressure, 10 per cent from diabetes and 9 per cent from osteoarthritis of the knees, while only 56.7 per cent of all senior citizens were able to access the healthcare system.
Health promotion campaigns combined with gathering the elderly to do activities together would help them better understand how to take good care of themselves and curb unhealthy habits that put them at risk of ailments, she said.
Regional Health Promotion Center 9 director Dr Weerapol Kittipibul said that his office had implemented activities to promote the senior citizens’ good health. For those aged 45-59, for example, the office had arranged activities such as mobile health check-ups, disease-screening schemes and an exercise-promoting project to help them lose weight, he said.
For those over 60 years old, the office had a project called “Mai Lom, Mai Leum, Mai Seumsao, Kin Khao Aroi” (translated as “don’t fall, don’t forget, don’t get depressed but do have a good appetite”) to promote the seniors’ ability to take care of themselves.
For those 11,092 housebound ailing elderly people who required long-term care, the office had also dispatched “care managers” and “caregivers” to rehabilitate them so they are no longer isolated at home but are able to return and enjoy social activities, he added.