Policy Perspectives
Policy Responses to Long-term Care Provision in China: A Comparative Study of Beijing and Shanghai Municipality
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chunhua Chen
With more than forty million disabled older people, long term care (LTC) provision has become one of the most critical social issues facing governments in China. Although great endeavours have been made, accessible and affordable LTC remains one of the biggest challenges. Increased government responsibility is expected to improve LTC provision. However, the response by local government has varied considerably. In particular, policy responses are not consistent with identified LTC needs and fiscal capability across local areas. This contradiction is best illustrated within Beijing and Shanghai, the most influential local areas in China. The fundamental differences between two areas reside in three aspects: the level of LTC within the rights protection framework for older people, the entitlement to LTC benefits as the basic public services, and the LTC finance mechanism. Due to the experiment-based policy-making approach in China, either the LTC provision model in Beijing and Shanghai could be adopted as national policy. Therefore, it is worth an in-depth study on the policy responses to LTC provision in two local areas. As preliminary research result, this paper introduces contradictory policy responses to LTC provision from two local areas. Further research examines how and why different and contradictory policy responses have occurred in Beijing and Shanghai despite great similarities in material factors. More importantly, this research intends to improve the knowledge of social policy-making towards social justice, equity, and equality in China.
Aging-in-place Scenario Building for Older People in China
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Junjie Huang
The Chinese aging population is projected to reach 350 million by 2050. Currently, aging-in-place is the most common aging model in China. As part of the ODESSA (Optimising care delivery models to support ageing-in-place) project, this study aims to build up realistic aging-in-place scenarios for the older people in China. Twelve scenarios were developed based on the research findings from the CHARLS (the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study) data and the ODESSA project, to highlight current issues in terms of housing, health and social care provision for the aging population in China. The scenarios were validated by two evaluation events in Beijing. The research team received feedback from 215 older participants. Feedback was analysed using a mixed method approach to examine both the statistical and qualitative meanings of participants’ views. Results show that respondents generally accepted and felt optimistic about the 12 scenarios, however, further improvements are possible in aspects of health care, social support, housing design, technology and policy. The findings helped to identify major concerns facing aging-in-place challenges in China and provided suggestions that can inform a robust aging-in-place policy for China’s growing cities.
Legal and Policy Framework for the Ageing Population in India: A Critique
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tavleen Kaur Khurana
The global phenomenon of demographic aging influences societies and brings with it new challenges. In India, older people constitute one of the fastest growing demographics. Indian cultural norms demand that children support their aged parents. However there is gradual shift in this trend owing to declining fertility, urbanisation, and contemporary lifestyles. The chief legislation deliberating on the ‘maintenance’ of the elderly is the ‘Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act’. The act is incomprehensive and is oblivious to many crucial issues. The Indian government has launched various schemes and policies for tackling their peculiar vulnerabilities. A critical evaluation of these polices is the need of the hour so as to evaluate how far they have been successful in safeguarding their interests. The legal and policy structure fail to see the aging population as a heterogeneous group and treats every aged person (rural, urban, poor, employed, women, etc.) in a similar fashion, which is extremely problematic. The present study critiques the legal and policy framework prevailing in India for the elderly. Evaluation is done on four parameters: maintenance, employment, healthcare and general well being. Further, an in depth analysis of the situation of older women as a vulnerable cohort will be explored. Considering the differences in the cultural set up, it will be deliberated as to whether India can learn anything from Japanese policies? Lastly, the paper argues the imperativeness of measures for social security, re-employment, improvements in geriatric services and a better general quality of life.
The Ageing and Adult Protection Legislative System: A Comparative Law Study
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yukio Sakurai
We face a serious ageing society. The population of the elderly with dementia is sharply increasing as adults live longer. We thus need some effective public policy to protect the elderly with dementia. Nowadays legislative system is progressing mainly in Europe, the US, Australia, and Canada in order to protect vulnerable adults including the elderly with dementia from possible risks for abuse including financial exploitation, neglect, self-neglect, and so on. In Japan, a new law was introduced in 2016 to promote adult guardianship system as one of necessary measures. It is assumed that we need various public policy measures so that citizens may choose whatever it is suitable and necessary by their own choice because autonomy and the right to self-determination are the most important. In advanced states, adult protection legislative system seems to refer to a comprehensive package of laws aiming at protecting vulnerable adults by the least restrictive measures as long as it is necessary, taking adults’ will and preferences into consideration. In other words, human rights are highly respected. The other importance is the balance between state responsibility and citizen rights. The adult protection legislative systems considered in this study are valuable to consider further and adopt in Japan in the future.
