Healthcare and Aging Society

 Yesterday, I had a somewhat serious injury and went to a large hospital. I noticed that there were very few young people around my age and mostly elderly people. Of course, it's expected that as people age, they visit hospitals more frequently, but the high proportion of elderly patients was quite striking. This made me curious about the relationship between healthcare and aging, so I did some research.

Before my research, I already suspected that advancements in healthcare might be contributing to aging, and my findings confirmed this. There is a mutual relationship between healthcare and this issue, with two major problems looming: the 2025 problem and the 2040 problem.

The 2025 problem refers to the challenges that arise from a rapidly aging society, including increased medical and nursing care costs, labor shortages, and ensuring the sustainability of social security systems. The 2040 problem indicates even more severe issues, with a sharp increase in the elderly population and a simultaneous decline in the working-age population, potentially impacting the maintenance of a healthy society and economic growth.

My research revealed that healthcare advancements, while being a cause of aging, are also being strained by the aging population. This creates a vicious cycle that needs urgent resolution.

高齢化と医療資源の逼迫 2025年問題と2040年問題をどう対策するか. (n.d.). オンライン診療・服薬指導の導入支援なら日本調剤. https://nicoms.nicho.co.jp/business/contents/20231010-02/

ドクターメイト編集部. (2023, December 7). 【2040年問題をわかりやすく解説】超高齢社会が抱える社会問題と対策とは | ドクターメイト. ドクターメイト. https://doctormate.co.jp/blog/blog-14163

Average age of first-time mothers

 I'm a 29-year-old mother with a 6-year-old child. Last week, my child started elementary school, and I attended my first parent-teacher meeting. I was a bit surprised to see that many of the other mothers were older than I expected. When I got home, I decided to look up the current average age of first-time mothers. I found a graph showing the average age of first-time mothers over the past 50 years. It showed that in 1975, the average age was 25.7 years, in 2000 it was 28 years, and in 2022 it was 31 years. I gave birth at 23, so I was quite surprised to see that the average age is now 31. This made me think that as the age of first-time mothers increases, the likelihood of having a second child decreases, leading to lower birth rates and, consequently, an aging population.

IseHitomi, & IseHitomi. (2024, July 6). 令和4年(2022年)平均初産年齢と過去50年の推移～世界と比べて日本は?～ | 卵子凍結保管 グレイスバンク. 卵子凍結保管サービス Grace Bank（グレイスバンク） |. https://gracebank.jp/egg-freezing-primipara/

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/kakutei22/index.html

The result from survey monkey

• We use the survey monkey to know how much people recognize this problem We collected 19 responses via Instagram and from relatives.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-QPAkb98w8pMmvfsWo6TTJw_3D_3D/

According the reserch from survey-monkey, we found out that few people are concerning about aging society. About half of the respondants see the environmental problem as the most concerned problem in Japan

Next bar chart shows that how often does respondent see or hear about the news related to aging society. As a result, over half of respondents perceive the information related to aging society only once or less than a month.

We realize that aging society is not seen as a serious problems, though the impacts caused by aging problems are serious as I mentioned.

Getting people more aware of the reality and influence caused by aging problems is needed to improve the quality of life under the aging society.

NGO for aging society

NGO for Aging Society

We found the NGO tackle aging problems. Korenkyo is one of the non-government-organization, which ami for a more livable aging society. It originally start from 1998 during the International Year of Older Person. After the end of this term in 1999, Korenkyo started working and has been ruuning for more than 20 years.

Their action mainly support people to live in the aging society. For instance, they held いきがい・助け合いサミット in Tokyo, where they support elderly people to find a reason and purpose in life. The group also held the session event to give older people find thier new friends or community and to promote social participation.

Furthermore, they are acting for the social security system reform, which can lead to reducing the burden of medical care, making older people comfortable to live.

高連協について. (n.d.). 高連協. https://www.janca-jp.com/%E9%AB%98%E9%80%A3%E5%8D%94%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6/

Survice to support elderly in Japan and U.S

 I have an 82-year-old grandfather, whom I address with respect. Last week, my grandfather celebrated his birthday and turned 82, surpassing the average life expectancy for men in Japan. It is well-known that Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world, and there are various factors contributing to this. Japan is a super-aging society, and one of the factors contributing to this is the well-established support and assistance systems, as well as the fact that society operates with a focus on the elderly.

I saw a study comparing the elderly support systems in the United States and Japan. There are two main principles of elderly support: familialism and liberal familialism. Both Japan and the United States fall under the latter principle, which combines support from family, the market, and national social assistance. However, the key difference between Japan and the United States is that the US leans more towards liberalism rather than familialism. For example, there is little support for home care in the US, and for elderly people who value independence, care provided by family is not considered desirable. As a result, when they can no longer live independently, they often move into nursing homes or similar facilities. These facility costs are usually paid out of their own pockets, with minimal assistance from the government.

In comparison, I realized that Japan's support system is incredibly well-developed. While having a well-developed support system is not necessarily a bad thing, I believe it is one of the factors that shape our society.

https://www8.cao.go.jp/kourei/kou-kei/29forum/pdf/tokyo-7.pdf

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/hakusyo/kousei/12/dl/1-04.pdf

Think about the website that I watched

 When I first saw the website I was assigned to, I must say, I found it a bit weird. Of course, it was the first time I saw a man being pregnant, and the format of the site itself was strange. At first, I couldn't accept the fact that a man was pregnant, so I clicked on the main site of RYT Hospital, but it only led to strange casino ads. I also found out through research that its existence was a hoax. However, the site detailed how the pregnancy occurred in a long article. Within that article, there were some descriptions that seemed feasible and some correct technical terms, which slightly increased its credibility. Additionally, the site included an interview with the pregnant Lee Mingwei and a YouTube video, which made me think it might be true for a moment. As I continued to research, I found out that Lee Mingwei is an artist and that the fact and website about his pregnancy were part of his art project. He has a unique perspective that is different from ordinary people, and through this project, I personally interpreted his message as challenging the stereotype that only women can give birth and emphasizing the importance of respecting diversity.

https://malepregnancy.com/archives/2001/

Nursing home in Japan

 I am Kenta, and I have an 81-year-old grandmother. Recently, my parents talked about her going to a nursing home. Personally, I thought nursing homes were just facilities where elderly people who need care live and pay for others to look after them. However, it turns out that there are many types of nursing homes, and various other facilities that support the elderly besides nursing homes. This means that services to support the elderly are becoming more comprehensive, which also suggests that the number of elderly people needing support is increasing. So, I looked into some statistics related to this. To conclude, almost every graph showed an upward trend. For instance, the number of fee-based nursing homes with care services increased by about 60,000 units over the ten years from 2012. This translates to an annual increase of about 4%, clearly indicating that the number of elderly people needing support is rising. Additionally, the number of registered barrier-free housing units for the elderly, which target those who do not require constant care like in nursing homes, increased by 100,000 units over the past decade. This shows that the impact of an aging population and declining birth rate has significantly contributed to a new social issue of a shortage of caregiving professionals. This made me worry.

サービス付き高齢者向け住宅の最新動向(2023年5月) | 高齢者住宅ジャーナル | 高齢者住宅協会. (n.d.). 高齢者住宅ジャーナル. https://www.satsuki-jutaku.jp/journal/article/p=2289

株式会社タムラプランニング＆オペレーティング. (2022, May 13). 最新の高齢者住宅の業界動向 レポート～「高齢者住宅データ〔全国版〕」2022年度上半期号を用いて～. プレスリリース・ニュースリリース配信シェアNo.1｜PR TIMES. https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000012.000072736.html

スタンバイ制作チーム. (2023b, September 27). 介護職の人手不足の原因は？介護業界の問題点と人材確保のための解決策. スタンバイ. https://jinji.stanby.co.jp/saiyou-knowhow/230905