Recently, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), organised a workshop in Da Nang city to review the pilot implementation of an integrated elderly care model and orientation to building an ecosystem of this work in Viet Nam.

In attendance at the event were about 100 delegates from cities and provinces across the country.

All of them joined discussions about an integrated care model framework for the elderly and assessed the pilot implementation of this model in 5 Vietnamese localities, namely Da Nang and Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Vinh Long, with financial support from the Japanese government and the United Nations Joint Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Fund.

After 6 months of pilot implementation, the pilot model has proved to be highly effective. More than 1,000 caregivers at social protection centres and caregivers of the elderly at home have been trained to improve their capacity and skills.

The event was also a good opportunity for agencies to share experiences in implementing orientations for the future development of Viet Nam's elderly care ecosystem.

The delegates also took a joint field trip to Hoa Tien Commune, Hoa Vang District and the city's Social Sponsor Centre in order to learn about how the elderly were cared for here.

Viet Nam now has about 7.4 million elderly people aged from 65, accounting for 7.7 percent of its population, and the number is expected to rise to 22.3 million, making up 20.4 percent by 2050.

The country officially entered the "aging phase" in 2011, and is among the most rapidly aging countries in the world.

Reporting by LE VAN THOM – Translating by A. THU