AGING READINESS and COMPETIVENESS REPORT-PHILIPPINES
AGING READINESS and COMPETITIVENESS INITIATIVE-PHILIPPINES
Background (Review of Literature)
The Global Scenario on Aging (from AARP at https://www.aarpinternational.org/arc):
By 2030, there will be nearly one billion people age 65 and older around the world, a group that between 2015 and 2030 will grow at four times the rate of the overall global population. Managing this demographic transformation requires governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to fundamentally rethink the roles older adults can and should play in our communities and economies. Recognizing this, in 2017, AARP and FP Analytics partnered to launch the Aging Readiness and Competitiveness (ARC) initiative. The ARC initiative maps out how countries around the world are responding to the pressures and opportunities created by their aging populations, and identifies innovations that promise a more active, engaged, and productive older population in the years to come.
For the 2018 ARC report, we shifted our focus to 10 small economies around the world that are leading their regions in responding to demographic change. These countries, each with fewer than 25 million people, were selected in consultation with global experts as the leaders in their respective regions in terms of aging policy innovation. They are Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, Lebanon, Mauritius, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, and Taiwan. Read more
The inaugural 2017 ARC report established a baseline understanding of the state of global aging policies, with in-depth assessments of a group of 12 countries that are geographically, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse and that, together, represent 61 percent of the global GDP and nearly half of the world’s population of people ages 65 and older . Read more
The Societal Pillars of Aging Readiness and Competitiveness (ARC)
- Community Infrastructure
- Productive Opportunity
- Technological Engagement
- Health Care and Wellness
The Nursing Office (TNO) & Philippine Community Center Services for Aging (PCCSA) Initiative: Research on Aging Filipinos in America and in the Philippines
In response to the Global Scenario on Aging and inspired by the publication of AARP International’s THE JOURNAL (Volume II – 2018 edition) study on Leaders in Longevity (Special Feature: Japan) and the crucial need to improve the quality of life of seniors and elderly citizens worldwide, and in particular, Filipino- Americans, this TNO-PCCSA Initiative seeks, among others:
1.Primarily to document our mother country, the Philippines’ beginning and sustaining efforts towards achieving AARP International’s four (4) societal pillars fundamental to an Age-Friendly country that contributes to longevity and quality of life for elderly and senior citizens, to wit:
a.Community Social Infrastructures
b.Productive Opportunity
c.Technological Engagement
d.Health Care and Wellness
2.Secondarily, to gather insights on how to deliver Age-friendly health care services to Filipino-Americans who worked in the U.S and contributed to their Medicare health insurance and to explore or create innovative systems and strategies by which such services may be rendered to them in the mother country.
3.Thirdly, to initiate dialogue, open interaction and eventually, launch collaborative networks between and among Filipino American communities in America and similar groups/communities in the mother country, Philippines, on cost-efficient, efficacious health care delivery systems for elderly and senior citizens, by utilizing the Philippine-based, non-government organization Remnant Institute, Inc. Center for Lifestyle Medicine and Education, as a starting point and home base for this TNO-PCCSA research Initiative. See https://www.remnant-institute.com/.
The TNO-PCCSA Research Initiative will be conducted under the TNO’s program established in Manila in 2016, ACCESS HEALTHCARE ASIA (AHA, Inc.) https://www.thenursingoffice.com/access-healthcare-asia/.
Goals & Objectives of AHA, Inc.
The overall goal is to open, initiate, provide and facilitate ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE in its broadest meaning, utilizing science-based information and technology for efficient and effective delivery, from health promotion, clinical services, delivery of prescription medicines, Medicare insurance reimbursements, health education, housing, recreation and retirement facilities, clean water and environmental protection, to the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of environment and ecology-friendly health products, supplies or equipment for general health maintenance in homes, schools, offices and other public and private arenas.
PROGRAM I: MEDICARE Insurance Reimbursements
An estimated 10 million Filipino Americans are in search of options for USA health insurance supported health care in the Philippines, where they can optimize their Balikbayan homecoming experience and privileges, according to US Medicare Philippines. See http://www.usmedicareph.org/. As more and more hospitals and healthcare facilities in the Philippines obtain accreditation from JCI (Joint Commission International) to render healthcare services to US citizens who have Medicare, Access Healthcare Asia is positioned to initiate, provide and facilitate Medicare insurance reimbursements for Filipino Americans who avail of healthcare services from JCI-accredited hospitals and other healthcare facilities while visiting or residing in the Philippines.
Again, according to the same source, another 5 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in North America & Europe need reliable quality, affordable healthcare for themselves and their dependents.
These estimated 10 million Filipino Americans cannot live like islands of beneficent health care (sustained by US Medicare insurance) amongst an ocean of Filipinos, more than 70% of whom live in poverty and who do not have access to adequate basic primary health care services, despite the government-run PhilHealth system. This situation demonstrates “apartheid” classes of “haves” and “have-nots” that is creating a formidable, wealth-draining health crisis among the current 100 million plus population. This almost emergency-like scenario is unsustainable for the Philippines, and for any country elsewhere in a world now beholding and supporting growing and greying populations.
Therefore, the leadership of AARP International in taking up the cudgels of reporting on and spearheading awareness campaigns by raising consciousness on the plight of the elderly and senior citizens in the world at large, is most timely and expediently urgent.
We at TNO & PCCSA are facing this challenge head-on and hands-on to create a new and exciting world that works for everyone, including one of the most vulnerable amongst us, our elderly and senior citizens.
Lutgarda M. Resurreccion, Program Director
The Nursing Office (TNO) and Philippine Community Center Services for Aging, Inc. (PCCSA)
87-02 188th Street, Hollis, New York 11423 January 21, 2020
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