policy-mapping-post-feature

Demographic trends in the Asia and Pacific region are expanding interest in addressing challenges and capturing opportunities related to population ageing. Most countries in the region have been developing policies and legislation on ageing and integrating older people’s concerns into broad policymaking, although progress has been uneven across the region.

With UNFPA’s support, HelpAge International commissioned a mapping of policy and legislation on ageing and older people in 26 countries across the region. This document presents the findings of the review. These countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Viet Nam. An annex to this report presents the full data collected during the review, by country.

In addition to policy, legislation and action plans focussed solely on ageing and older people, the review also included references to older people in a number of mainstream national policy documents. These were reviewed in order to capture government action on ageing beyond the policy documents focussed solely on older people.

National policy, legislation, and/or action plans focussed solely on ageing and older people were found in 18 of the 26 countries reviewed and are in progress in two others. Just under half of these countries (8 of 18) have only one type of document (a policy, legislation or an action plan), while a combination of these mechanisms are found in the other countries. Among the 18 countries with national policy, legislation and/or action plans on ageing, their documents generally cover a wide range of issues related to later life. Policy documents in all those countries include social protection, healthy ageing, equal and universal access to health care, housing and the living environment, care and support for care givers, and images of ageing in society. Nearly all of these countries also mention training for health care workers and neglect; abuse, violence, rights and age discrimination. When mainstream national policies covering the entire population are also considered, all the 26 countries reviewed have at least some policy explicitly addressing older people.

To download publication, click below:
Policy Mapping on Ageing in Asia and the Pacific: Analytical report.

 

Recommended readings:

 

Relevant documents (national policies, legislation and action plans on ageing):