A Vision for our Future

We have to be nimble and regularly adapt our methods in order that we will help each present and future generations of Singaporeans.

By Gan Kim Yong
Minister for Well being
Republic of Singapore

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Singapore is not any stranger to the growing old phenomenon skilled by international locations worldwide. By 2030, one in 4 Singaporeans can be aged 65 and older. At this time, Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 84.8 years, of which 74.2 years are lived in good well being. Whereas longer life expectations could include elevated illness burden and frailty, in addition they supply alternatives. Translating longevity into longer years of continued studying, energetic engagement and contribution to society will delay the onset of cognitive and practical incapacity. This advantages each the person and society-at-large, by including not simply extra years to life, however extra life to years.

I shared with AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins and her workforce after they visited Singapore in 2019 that Singapore had began planning for growing old again within the Nineteen Eighties, after we anticipated this demographic shift.  We shaped inter-agency committees to holistically coordinate our responses. We nonetheless undertake this holistic method to planning at this time. Recognizing that growing old is a multi-faceted situation and that the growing old expertise is completely different for everybody, in 2015 we consulted Singaporeans from all walks of life, in addition to various stakeholders, together with non-government organizations, unions and personal sector corporations, for their views and aspirations on ageing. These efforts culminated in our Motion Plan for Profitable Ageing, which aspired to rework the growing old expertise and make Singapore a greater place to age. I’m pleased to share that the vary of methods in areas similar to well being and wellness, employment, studying, volunteerism and transport, have benefitted not solely the older individuals but in addition the broader inhabitants in Singapore.

Turning “Silver” into “Gold” for the Future 

Whereas we began many years in the past, the journey is continuous. Future seniors could have completely different pursuits, priorities and motivations in comparison with seniors of at this time. We’re additionally seeing shrinking household sizes and an growing variety of single aged and empty nester households. We have to be nimble and regularly adapt our methods in order that we will help each present and future generations of Singaporeans.

Singapore aspires to be a house the place our seniors can proceed to develop and develop as people, even of their later years. With developments in public well being, expertise, in addition to the appearance of recent modes of communication, age is admittedly only a quantity. The boundaries of our world not should be outlined by our retirement age or certainly, any age.

We’re redefining the narrative for growing old as one in every of “turning silver into gold”, the place Singaporeans can proceed to develop and flourish all through their lives. Our journey is anchored on three “C”s – contribution, care, and connectedness.

Contribution: Creating Significant Alternatives for Seniors to Age with Function

Lots of our seniors have advised us that they wish to contribute for so long as they’ll, to keep up a way of function of their golden years. Therefore, we’re empowering our seniors to remain energetic and bodily properly, to allow them to proceed to contribute. Efforts to offer preventive well being choices locally, similar to common well being screening and one-stop kiosks for fundamental well being and nursing providers, will proceed to assist our seniors take cost of their very own well being. To help older Singaporeans to remain energetic at work, the Singapore authorities labored with employers and unions to reinforce senior employability and promote inclusive work place practices that worth older employees. We are going to progressively increase the Re-employment age to 70 by 2030. For Singaporeans who wish to keep energetic by way of volunteerism, the Silver Volunteer Fund will help group companions to create significant volunteering alternatives. We additionally arrange the Nationwide Silver Academy to offer seniors with studying alternatives primarily based on their pursuits, as a result of because the Chinese language saying goes, “you study so long as you reside, and you reside so long as you study”!

Care: Shaping Neighborhood-based Help Techniques to Care for Our Seniors 

Our preventive well being technique is aligned to our life-course method to growing old, to inculcate wholesome habits from youngsters to seniors, pretty much as good well being rests on the foundations laid from younger. Care wants will invariably develop as we grow old, and could also be tense and troublesome for many. To assist our seniors and their households higher navigate the care help system, we’re weaving collectively each social and well being providers in native communities, which allows us to proactively care for our seniors, pre-empt social isolation, and serve all who’re in want of help, not simply those that are low-income and frail. The Ministry of Well being is partnering service suppliers and senior facilities throughout Singapore offering day care, rehabilitation providers and wellness packages to develop their attain, in addition to their high quality and vary of capabilities. We additionally launched the Caregiver Help Motion Plan in 2019, which reinforces monetary and office help, respite care choices, and empowerment and coaching for caregivers, in order that they’ll extra successfully care for their family members.

Connectedness: Enabling our Seniors to Age in Place and Keep Linked

Lastly, we wish to combine {hardware} with “heartware” so our seniors can age in place with their family members. Social and well being wants are intently intertwined and each have to be taken care of to age properly. We’re launching assisted residing fashions that present seniors with extra housing choices for unbiased residing, with care out there if wanted, and curated areas to work together extra with their neighbors and have some good outdated enjoyable. We additionally developed the Neighborhood Networks for Seniors (CNS) as a uniquely Singaporean initiative to attach stakeholders inside a precinct and collectively have interaction and ship social help providers to our seniors. Neighborhood volunteers with our Silver Technology Workplace conduct outreach to particular person Singaporeans aged 60 years and above to proactively perceive their wants. On this means, the CNS retains our seniors properly by way of preventive well being and energetic growing old packages, befriends lonely seniors residing alone, and sews up social and well being help providers for frail seniors or seniors with advanced social-health wants.

There’s all the time extra to uncover and study. We leverage analysis and expertise to maintain our seniors engaged throughout the group, in addition to guarantee our insurance policies are primarily based on proof. For instance, we’re incorporating analytics extra comprehensively in our coverage design, together with utilizing geospatial information within the planning of eldercare providers to higher meet the wants of our seniors. We’re endeavor intensive analysis on growing old by way of the Nationwide Innovation Problem on Energetic and Assured Ageing, and dealing with numerous analysis establishments to develop an ecosystem that may incubate geriatric expertise commercialization. As a small nation, Singapore has additionally been studying from different international locations similar to China, the USA, and Japan. The journey AARP made to Singapore in 2019 is an effective instance of how fostering of partnerships can facilitate mutual studying and trade of concepts, and we hope to proceed such engagements with worldwide public and tutorial stakeholders.

Conclusion

Planning for growing old is a steady journey. The foundations our pioneers had laid are simply beginning to bear fruit, however there may be nonetheless extra to be executed for present and future generations of seniors as we transfer in the direction of our imaginative and prescient of a nation for all ages. I thank the AARP for that includes Singapore’s method to growing old on this publication, and hope that this function will present readers additional perception into our endeavors to co-create an inclusive society that celebrates our seniors.

Urged Quotation
Gan, Kim Yong. 2020. “Profitable Growing older in Singapore: A Vision for our Future.” AARP Worldwide: The Journal, vol. 13: 198-201.  https://doi.org/10.26419/int.00045.008 

concerning the writer
Gan Kim Yong has been the Minister for Well being for the Republic of Singapore since Could 2011. One among Minister Gan’s key focuses on the Ministry of Well being (MOH) is to drive Healthcare 2020, a masterplan outlining the Authorities’s technique to make sure accessibility, high quality and affordability of healthcare. Below Minister Gan’s cost, MOH launched MediShield Life in 2015, a common medical insurance coverage that covers all Singaporeans, no matter well being standing, for life. Minister Gan additionally helms the Ministerial Committee on Ageing (MCA) which drives the formulation and implementation of ageing insurance policies in Singapore.