Long-term Care of the Elderly in Singapore: Caring for the Health and Well-being of Family Caregivers
Though Singapore’s population is relatively young today it is projected to age rapidly in the next 30 years. As of 2001, elderly persons (defined as 65 years and older) comprise only 7.4% of the resident population of about 3.3 million people. By 2030, the proportion of elderly persons is projected to increase to 19%.
To better prepare for the needs of an aging population the Singapore government has set up various national-level committees, the latest being the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Ageing Population (IMC), set up in October 1998. The IMC report, which was released in November 1999, laid out several key outcomes for four levels of society: individual, family, community, and national, and the key principle of collective responsibility.
In the first part of my presentation, I will elaborate on how individuals, families, communities, and the government develop the capacity to deal with the challenges of aging and which groups (such as women) are more vulnerable during retirement and old age. In the next part of my presentation I will highlight the need to care for family caregivers as a group that is vulnerable to financial, social, and health risks. It is assumed that family caregivers will be able to manage with some community support and public policy provisions. To what extent they are able to cope is not currently a major policy issue. Though the IMC recommended that higher priority be accorded in developing policies and services to support caregivers it remains to be seen what and how much have developed since 1999. For the final part of my presentation I will examine this issue of what have been done to provide for the health and well-being of family caregivers and what else needs to be done.