Integrating Health and Care for Older People in China: What Has Been Accomplished? What is Next?
In China, in addition to its rapid ageing process and large older population, the incidence of chronic disease and disability in the elderly is astonishingly high. Among the 267 million people aged 60 and over in 2021, there were about 190 million people with at least one chronic disease and 40 million living with disability [1]. This has created a huge challenge for the world’s most populous country which is also a middle-income economy in caring for its senior citizens. In response to the complex needs of the elderly and drawing from international experience, China has adopted an active ageing and healthy ageing strategy, and integrating health and care has increasingly been a policy priority for coping with population ageing in the past decade. Progress has been made while challenges remain. The experiences and lessons of China might be referential for the other middle income countries in integrating health and care for their older adults.