NEWSLETTER NO.14 JUNE 2020
Social Determinants of Health (SDH) in elders and Japanese Edition of “Self-assessment Tool for Recognition of Age Friendly Hospitals and Health Services”
It is widely known that Japan is one of the most aged Super Aging Society in today’s world. It is expected that by 2035, the aging rate will reach 33.4%, and in the cases of some cities and towns in Hokkaido, it has already exceeded 50%; even at prefecture level, it has already exceeded 33.4% in the cases of Akita, Kochi, Shimane and Yamaguchi prefectures.
Among the members of International HPH Network, Taiwan is experiencing the aging faster than Japan, and it is expected that they will reach the level of Super Aging Society like Japan by the middle of 2020. Healthcare policy of Taiwan, which received much attention for its measures against COVID-19, has examined the WHO declaration “WHO Active Aging: Towards Age-Friendly Primary Health Care” (2004), and developed the “Framework for Age Friendly Healthcare” in 2009 based on the International HPH Network’s principals and standards for age-friendly healthcare.
As one of many task forces of International HPH Network, the “Age-friendly health care framework” task force is promoted in collaboration with different frameworks on age-friendly facilitated in different parts of the world (Task Force on HPH & Age-friendly Health Care).
In Taiwan, more than 400 hospitals and elder’s facilities have already implemented the framework, and the manual “Self-assessment Tool for Recognition of Age Friendly Hospitals and Health Services”, mentioned here, were translated into many languages including English, German, Estonian, Greek for verification in different countries.
The framework consists of 4 main standards of “Management Policy”, “Communication and Services”, “Care Processes”, and “Physical Environment”, followed by 11 sub-standards and 60 measurable evaluation items. And each facility can use it to run a self-assessment and have an external assessment by regional HPH network or International HPH Network to evaluate and analyze the activity of their own facility, allowing for quality improvement. There is also a potential for joint study project on health promotion for elders.