The challenge of population aging - Part 1: The key to a happy and healthy life for the elderly

With the goal of helping the elderly "live happily, live healthily, and live usefully", Ho Chi Minh City is having many solutions to improve the physical and mental health of the force considered as "the nation's precious capital".

Photo caption — The elderly are cared for and nurtured at Tam An Nursing Home, Ho Chi Minh City.

Lesson 1: The key to a happy and healthy life for the elderly

Faced with the increasing number of elderly people in the community, in recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has introduced solutions to support and improve health care for the elderly. This is a "preventative" measure to detect early, manage and treat diseases, help reduce pressure on the health system, social security as well as improve the lives of the elderly.

Live long but not healthy

At the age of 76, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh (residing in Binh Dong Ward) often has to go to the hospital to treat diabetes, heart disease, and blood pressure. Over the past year, she has also suffered from bone and joint diseases, her knee joints often ache and she has difficulty moving and doing daily activities. “Even though I have a pension, I still have to depend on my children to live. Because I cannot do my daily activities independently and often need someone to take me to the hospital for treatment,” Ms. Tinh shared.

Having one or more chronic diseases is a common condition of many elderly people today. According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Population Department, the average life expectancy of the city's residents is 76.6 years old, higher than the average life expectancy of the whole country (74.7 years old). However, in reality, many elderly people live long but are not healthy.

Mr. Pham Chanh Trung, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Population Department, commented that the average life expectancy of the city's residents is currently the highest in the country, but healthy life expectancy is still low. The reason is that the disease model in general, and in the elderly in particular, is changing rapidly, shifting from a model of mainly infectious diseases to non-infectious diseases. Currently, the rate of elderly people in our country often suffer from many diseases at the same time, on average each person suffers from more than two diseases that require lifelong treatment is very high. This greatly affects the psychological life as well as daily activities and community integration of the elderly.

In fact, the majority of the elderly are facing the burden of "double illness", suffering from many chronic non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, dementia, etc. Results from the Free Health Checkup Program for the Elderly implemented by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health in 2024 show that 61.6% of the elderly have high blood pressure; 25.68% of the elderly have or are suspected of having diabetes; 18.3% of people have signs of pre-weakness; 1.3% of people have signs of weakness; 2.2% of the elderly have basic daily living activities (bathing, dressing, eating, hygiene, urination, moving) that require support from others...

Thong Nhat Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City - the largest geriatric hospital in the Southern region receives 4,500 - 5,000 visits every day, of which 75% are elderly people. According to Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Le Dinh Thanh, Director of Thong Nhat Hospital, the hospital has 1,200 beds but is often overloaded with more than 1,300 - 1,400 inpatients. About 2/3 of the patients come from Ho Chi Minh City, the rest are mainly severe cases from the provinces.

Since 2017, Ho Chi Minh City has officially entered the "population aging" period about 6 years later than the rest of the country, but the population aging rate is very fast. The city aims to have an average life expectancy of 77 years by 2030, of which healthy life expectancy is at least 68 years.

Pioneer in healthcare for the elderly

Holding in her hand the invitation for a free health check-up, at the end of October 2025, Ms. Tran Anh Thu (66 years old, living in An Dong ward) happily went to An Dong ward Health Station to have an ultrasound, test, and check her health. “At the age of 66 - 67, I started to show signs of aging and old age diseases, had more difficulty sleeping, ate less, and my bones and joints started to ache. Therefore, when I was invited to a free health check-up, I was very happy,” Ms. Thu shared.

Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet (72 years old, An Dong ward) was also moved when the City paid attention to the health and life of elderly people like her. According to Ms. Nguyet, it is very useful for the elderly to have regular health check-ups because nowadays, many people are old and have health problems but do not have the conditions to have regular check-ups.

In 2025, An Dong Ward Health Station will regularly organize health check-ups for the elderly in the area twice a month. Mr. Thai Minh Phuong, Deputy Head of An Dong Ward Health Station, said that after the merger, there are about 6,300 elderly people in the area. To ensure that all elderly people receive full and convenient health check-ups, health check-ups are carried out regularly and continuously with a number of 200 - 300 people per day. "When examining, if common diseases are detected, the elderly will be given medicine and treated right at the station. In cases of more complicated diseases, we will send their records to higher levels. For cases of elderly people living alone and having difficulty moving, we also send medical staff to their homes to examine them directly," said Mr. Thai Minh Phuong.

Piloted from 2023 and implemented simultaneously from 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee's Free Health Checkup Program for the Elderly has received positive feedback from the people, especially the elderly. Mr. Tran Dinh Hoa (65 years old, living in Hiep Binh ward) said that in reality, many elderly people without pensions have to rely on their children and grandchildren, so they do not have the conditions to go for regular health checkups. Meanwhile, at this age, they are very susceptible to metabolic and aging diseases, and need to be examined and treated promptly. "This is a very humane policy. Elderly people like us are very happy because our health is taken care of, and we can live happily and healthily with our children and grandchildren," Mr. Hoa confided.

After 2 years of implementing the Program, Ho Chi Minh City has provided free health check-ups and health records for more than 500,000 elderly people. According to the plan, each year, the City People's Committee will allocate about 150 billion VND to serve more than 1 million people aged 60 and over living in the area. Dr. Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, said that after the merger, the City has about 1.7 million elderly people, accounting for 12% of the population. The Department of Health has planned to expand the health check-up program to the entire merged area, regardless of permanent or temporary residence. This is a specific step to implement Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo on "a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health"; Aiming for the goal that by 2026, at least 80% of the elderly will receive annual health check-ups, contributing to reducing the burden of disease and improving people's quality of life.

Final article: Diversifying nursing home models

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/thach-thuc-gia-hoa-dan-so-bai-1-chia-khoa-de-nguoi-cao-tuoi-song-vui-song-khoe-20251103155241093.htm