Aging Population of Singapore Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Aging Population of Singapore. Answer: Issue Statement: Grant for an age friendly community, for the aging population of Singapore influenced by the success of the program in Australia. Background and Discussion According to WHO the population of the world is aging rapidly. As per the reports published by WHO, in 2006, about 500 million population of the world was older and by 2030 the figure will rise up to 1 billion. And by 2050, about 2 million populations will become senior citizens. In the low and the middle income countries the aging population is faced with a lot of problems such as communicable diseases, lack of proper infrastructural facilities. There are certain issues that cater to the ill heath of the aged population. Some of these are lack of pensions and social protection from the families (Buffel, Phillipson Scharf, 2012). Age discrimination, as the society might think it would be wise enough to invest time on the young population as they are the future of the country. Another factor is the lack of consideration of the older people in humanitarian response during critical or emergency conditions. It should be kept in mind that increase in the aging population of the world has got global implications. The elder persons are more susceptible to the non-communicable diseases and injuries related to falls and other terminal illness that requires proper palliative care (Willes et al., 2012). They are also vulnerable to the cognitive disorders and hence require special attention to avoid mortality and morbidity. As per the reports, the aging problem is quite critical as the average life span of people has increased largely which is responsible for the increase in the adult population (Fitzgerald Caro, 2014). As far as the health care is considered, the Singapore healthcare is still not efficient enough to address all the requirements of the aged care. Setting up of any care facilities requires a well planned financing system. The Singapore government is still trying to strive for proper retirement and finance plans in order to provide securities to the aged population. Furthermore The Singapore government is also looking out for plans to keep the aged people in the workforce to ensure healthy and independent living for them. In order to ensure a better life for the growing aged population, provision of age friendly communities has to be granted by the government (Willes et al., 2012). Till now, Australia has made a wide spread progress in providing aged care facilities by the provision of Age friendly communities. The department of communities of the Western Australia supports the development of the age friendly communities. The age friendly communities provide spaces, planned programs and initiatives to make a community suitable for all groups of people (Kendig, Elias, Matwijiw Anstey, 2014). In Australia, grants up to $10,000 are available to the local governments for undertaking the planning of the aged friendly community. There are grants up to $20,000 for the local government to work in collaboration with other local governments and other private organizations to set up a better community for the construction of the age friendly community (Kendig, Elias, Matwijiw Anstey, 2014). Options and/or Recommendations: The proposed options for setting up an age friendly community is the provision of certain services such as recognition of the wide ranges of resources and capacities among the older people. Prompt responses to the needs of the aged people, respecting their dignity and integrity, providing them with financial security, encouraging them to remain engaged in work to ensure healthy and independent living, provision of pensions for the retired ones, provision of public toilets, These are the options that can help in building up a successful all aged care community (Scharlach, 2012). According to the author Barusch, (2013), the development of an all aged care community can be faced with several barriers. The Singapore government had created aged friendly neighborhoods throughout the islands. As claimed by the ministry of Singapore The Ministry of health (MOH) and the ministry for community development have developed new aged care facilities such as senior activity centers, senior care centers, nursing homes (Tiong et al., 2013). According to the reports, space and manpower is scarce in Singapore. The health care services for the adults are all quite costly. The senior activity centers and the senior care centers would help the elderly people to socialize among themselves (Kendig Phillipson, 2014). Furthermore the senior care centers will be able to provide integrated day care facilities such as dementia care and day care to the elderly patients. As per the government the centers will be able to provide home care deliver services (Fitzgerald Caro, 2014). As seen from the reports these are some of the initiatives taken by the government of Singapore to address the needs of the aged care. In order to provide a long term care facilities to aged population, the Ministry of health, Singapore had provided with government subsidy for the aged care. The government of Singapore had introduced a six tiered subsidy framework for the elderly persons in the community ward. The ministry of health has introduced Medisave, medishield and the medifund policies for helping out the individuals to meet the hospitalization of the family members. A per the reports, the government of Singapore is still facing with the issue of the health care costs, availability of the hospital beds for the aged care (Greenfield, 2012). There is lot more still to be done in order to frame an appropriate all aged care community in Singapore. In order to resolve the issues there should be sub teams appointed for each of the sector in order to focus on each of the issues (Emlet Moceri, 2012). An appropriate leadership is necessary to bring about any positive changes in the institution. They will not only he lp to increase the workforce and would also help to motivate them. It is evident that the financing of the Singapore aged care needs to be brushed up for increasing the facilities, but there are certain risks to this. Increase in the health care costs of the country an increase the burden of the other sectors of the country. Implementation The solution has to be implemented by the committees in charge of the health care. The solution has to be implemented by the committees that have been appointed. The key steps involved in the development of al aged care community are as follows- age friendly transport facilities for accessing proper health services, a secure and safe environment, walkways cycle paths, age friendly buildings, provision of elevators, escalators, slip flooring, proper housing, safety pedestrian crossings and more (Fitzgerald Caro, 2014). Proper security and care to those people who cannot access the healthcare. In order to accomplish this, it is required to chalk out a suitable and a stipulated budget. The whole plan should be aimed at completing within a year. Communication The authorities or the groups that are responsible for making policies regarding aged care facilities should be disseminated with the information regarding the recommendations. The recommendations can be communicated by conducting essential meetings with the committees or by publishing suitable newsletters. E-mail alerts, web pages, robo-calls and phone trees. An effective communication plan would be able to break down the barriers to change by getting everyone at the same page and helping the stake holders in getting engaged in the needs for the change (Emlet Moceri, 2012). References Barusch, A. S. (2013). Age-friendly cities: A social work perspective. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2013.826563 Buffel, T., Phillipson, C., Scharf, T. (2012). Ageing in urban environments: Developing age-friendlycities.Critical Social Policy,32(4), 597-617. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0261018311430457 Emlet, C. A., Moceri, J. T. (2012). The importance of social connectedness in building age-friendly communities.Journal of aging research,2012. https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/173247 Fitzgerald, K. G., Caro, F. G. (2014). An overview of age-friendly cities and communities around the world.Journal of Aging Social Policy,26(1-2), 1-18. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2014.860786 Greenfield, E. A. (2012). Using ecological frameworks to advance a field of research, practice, and policy on aging-in-place initiatives.The Gerontologist,52(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnr108 Kendig, H., Phillipson, C. (2014). Building age-friendly communities: New approaches to challenging health and social inequalities.IF YOU COULD DO ONE THING..., 102. https://www.momentumnorfolk.org.uk Kendig, H., Elias, A. M., Matwijiw, P., Anstey, K. (2014). Developing age-friendly cities and communities in Australia.Journal of aging and health,26(8), 1390-1414. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0898264314532687 Scharlach, A. (2012). Creating aging-friendly communities in the United States.Ageing international,37(1), 25-38. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12126-011-9140-1 Tiong, W. W., Yap, P., Huat Koh, G. C., Phoon Fong, N., Luo, N. (2013). Prevalence and risk factors of depression in the elderly nursing home residents in Singapore.Aging mental health,17(6), 724-731. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2013.775638 Wiles, J. L., Leibing, A., Guberman, N., Reeve, J., Allen, R. E. (2012). The meaning of aging in place to older people.The gerontologist,52(3), 357-366. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnr098