June 2023

Robot Caregivers: China’s Solution for Aging Population

China, home to the world’s largest aging population, is facing a significant challenge in providing adequate care and support for its elderly citizens. However, in a remarkable display of innovation and foresight, China embraces the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to address this pressing issue. Focusing on developing cutting-edge technology, China aims to utilize robots as caregivers for older adults, revolutionizing how aging populations are cared for. This article delves into China’s ambitious endeavors, highlighting the advancements...

May 2023

China issues guidance for basic elderly care system by 2025

China has issued guidance to all provinces to build a basic elderly care system by 2025, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, in the latest step to prevent a demographic crisis. Who takes care of the elderly in China, where pensions are tiny, is one of the major headaches policymakers face as they deal with the country's first demographic downturn since Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution. The ruling Communist Party has mobilised resources to ensure that more vulnerable age groups are...

March 2023

Chinese cities are so broke, they’re cutting medical benefits for seniors

China's government, strapped for cash after years of enforcing a costly zero-Covid policy, is cutting medical benefits and planning to raise the retirement age, in deeply unpopular moves that are fueling widespread public anger. Thousands of elderly people have been taking to the streets since January to protest big cuts to monthly medical benefit payments. They've gathered in four major cities across the country, demanding local officials reverse the decisions. The changes are part of a national overhaul mainly intended to...

February 2023

Healthcare Technology International Perspective Report

By Dr. Michael Twomey THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC is putting vast pressure on the worldwide health care sector’s labour force, infrastructure, and supply chain, and revealing social inequities in health and care. Moreover, COVID-19 is hastening transformation throughout the ecosystem, requiring public and private health systems to acclimatise and innovate swiftly. A number of key changes are appearing from and being worsened by COVID-19’s expanse. For instance, consumers’ growing participation in healthcare decision-making; the swift embracing of virtual health and other digital...

January 2023

Older Adults and Technology Use

By: Aaron Smith America’s seniors have historically been late adopters to the world of technology compared to their younger compatriots, but their movement into digital life continues to deepen, according to newly released data from the Pew Research Center. In this report, we take advantage of a particularly large survey to conduct a unique exploration not only of technology use between Americans ages 65 or older and the rest of the population, but within the senior population as well. Two different groups of older Americans...

China’s going to have to figure out how to care for 400 million elderly people by 2040

China reached a pivotal moment this year, announcing on Tuesday that its population had, for the first time since the 1960s, shrunk. It's not just fewer people that China has to contend with. The country's planners have another mammoth challenge ahead: a rapidly aging population. The World Health Organization expects China to have more than 400 million people over the age of 60 by 2040, up from 254 million in 2019. That's nearly a third of its total population, compared to...

Solving the aging population care crisis via the metaverse

Currently, there are over 1.2 million residents in United States nursing homes, and over 800,000 residents of assisted living facilities. As the Baby Boomer population ages, these numbers are projected to skyrocket—by 2050, up to 30 million people in the Americas will require long-term care services. In other words, there are going to be a lot of people in need of quality care. Lubin graduate students Chuk Ezuma ’23 and Rikin Gajjar ’23 spent much of the fall semester thinking about...

Towards construction of comprehensive care systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: ELEMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

By ECLAC The Latin American and Caribbean region is experiencing an unprecedented economic and social crisis. The effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have spread to all spheres of human life, hurting economies, changing the way we interact, and causing extensive societal changes. The crisis has highlighted and exacerbated structural gaps, deepening pre-existing inequalities and exposing the vulnerabilities of political, economic, and social protection systems. The onset of the crisis magnified the structural challenges of gender inequality, reversing much...

December 2022

A long-term illness crisis is threatening the UK economy

Along with sky-high inflation and energy costs, a Brexit-related trade tailspin and a recession in progress, the U.K. economy is being hammered by record numbers of workers reporting long-term sickness. The Office for National Statistics reported that between June and August 2022, around 2.5 million people cited long-term sickness as the main reason for economic inactivity, an increase of around half a million since 2019. The number of “economically inactive” people — those neither working nor looking for a job —...

2022 Natixis Global Retirement Index. Danger Zone. Global retirement security challenges come home to roost in 2022

By Natixis When we introduced the Natixis Global Retirement Index in 2012, the world had just emerged from the global financial crisis: Memories of market turmoil were still fresh. Inflation was low, but so was growth. Central banks had slashed interest rates to all-time lows. Balance sheets had ballooned from asset repurchase programs. And public debt had swelled to record highs around the globe. On top of it all, the first wave of the Baby Boom generation had just reached retirement...