Khanh Hoa Branch for Population & Family Planning has just cooperated with Nha Trang City Medical Center to provide medical examination, medications and milk for some 150 old people in need...
Khanh Hoa Branch for Population & Family Planning has just cooperated with Nha Trang City Medical Center to provide medical examination, medications and milk for some 150 old people in need in the communes of Vinh Thanh, Vinh Ngoc and Phuong Son Ward, Nha Trang City. The activity was in response to the National Action Month for the Elderly (October) themed “Community effort to improve life quality and caring for the elderly”.
At local medical stations, the elderly were given medical check-up and treatment of aging-associated diseases, e.g. cardiovascular disease; blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes, skin diseases, etc as well as health care advice to maintain spiritual, mental and physical well-being.
76- year-old Pham Dy in Vinh Thanh Commune says, “I have a pain in my leg and thus walk with difficulty. My family is poor and my children are working far away. I am not able to go to hospital by myself. I am so delighted and thankful to the medical mission to the commune for free”. Also in Vinh Thanh Commune, 71-year-old Le Thi Bon suffering from high blood pressure was given medical check-up and healthy eating advice. She felt moved to receive free medications and milk from the doctors' mission.
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The activity was in the project on elder care, period 2017-2025, designed to meet senior citizens’ health care needs in adaptation to the aging population, contributing to the national program on the elderly, population and health care.
Over the past years, Khanh Hoa Branch for Population & Family Planning has frequently cooperated with the Representative Board of Khanh Hoa Association for the Elderly to develop a model on community-based consultancy and medical care for the elderly. The model began in July 2012 in some localities and it has been expanded throughout Khanh Hoa Province so far.
Every year, Khanh Hoa Branch for Population & Family Planning in cooperation with the Representative Board of Khanh Hoa Association for the Elderly provides training, consulting and propaganda; holds knowledge contests about policies and laws on elder care, roles and responsibilities of the elderly towards families. Besides, Khanh Hoa Branch for Population & Family Planning provides training on health care counseling for old people who are volunteers in districts and towns; delivers health care leaflets to the elderly to help them know how to take good care of themselves.
At present, there are some 112,000 old citizens, accounting for over 10% of the population which is in the aging period. In spite of the life expectancy increased to 73, the life quality of the elderly needs improving. Many are sick, suffering from fatigue and difficulty in mobility; there are still a lot of old people living with loneliness and in need of assistance and support from the community to help them maintain a happy and healthy life.
In the time to come, Khanh Hoa Branch for Population & Family Planning will continue cooperating with medical centers of districts and towns to organize a wide variety of activities for the elderly with priority given to those left isolated and lonely, living in poverty in remote areas in an effort to meet geriatric care targets, contributing to improving population quality.
Thiet Trang
Translated by N.T
