Letters | As populations age, business education can create the change needed in healthcare

Readers discuss the need for health system change, Russia’s ‘nuclear hostage’, and the prospect of nuclear proliferation

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Elderly residents of a care home help themselves at a buffet lunch in Beijing in 2021.
As China’s population ages, the health system should focus more on disease prevention. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:30am, 9 Apr 2023

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In ageing societies, an increasing number of individuals living longer and having co-morbidities could strain health systems. However, even in youthful societies, increases in noncommunicable diseases are taking a toll.

In China, strokes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer are high on the list of diseases impacting the population and health system.

China’s population is mainly between the ages of 15 and 64, but there are growing concerns that as this working-age population grows old, there will not be enough younger people to care for the older people. Consequently, China needs to ensure that its health system can not only cope with the needs of its current population but also meet rapidly emerging demand in the not-so-distant future.

Three changes need to take place in health systems such as China’s. Firstly, there needs to be much more focus on prevention so that an ageing population does not place increasing strain on the health system.

Secondly, there needs to be faster and better diagnostics.