高齡健康促進之在地老化與高齡友善政策

Age-in-Place and Age-Friendly Policies for Geriatric Health Promotion

台灣預估將於2025年迎向「超高齡社會」，隨著社會人口的高齡化，高齡者所面對與老化症候群相關的健康問題必然日趨嚴重，而這些威脅老人健康的慢性疾病多導因於不良的行為習慣或生活方式。由於醫療技術的進步，國人的平均壽命至2019年已增加至80.9歲，不健康之存活年數也隨之增加至8.5年，此顯示高齡者將需長期依賴他人而無法獨立生活，長期照護的需求也必然增加，如果能盡早有效的介入高齡健康促進策略，則可提升國人健康餘命，且有效地降低國人不健康之存活年數，以使高齡者能維持或提升內在能力及功能性能力，若能配合提供高齡者友善的環境，則高齡者不只可以具備獨立生活能力維持個人生命尊嚴，也能提高日常生活的自主性與自立性，同時提升高齡生活品質與建立良好社交關係。

Taiwan is expected to usher in a ''super-aged society'' by 2025. With the aging of the population, the health problems pertaining to geriatric syndrome faced by the elderly will inevitably become more and more serious. These chronic diseases that threaten the health of the elderly are often caused by poor behavioral habits or lifestyles. With the advancement in medical technology, the average life expectancy has increased to 80.9 years in 2019, and the duration of unhealthy aging has also increased to 8.5 years. This shows that the elderly will need to rely on others for a long time and will not be able to live independently, and an increased demand for long-term care will become unavoidable. If the elderly health promotion strategy can be effectively intervened as soon as possible, it can extend the healthy life expectancy, and can effectively reduce unhealthy survival years. Ultimately, that the elderly can maintain or enhance their intrinsic capacity and functional ability. If an age-friendly environment can be jointly incorporated in the promotion strategy, the elderly can have not only the ability to live independently to maintain the dignity of personal life, but also improve the autonomy and self-reliance of daily life. Their quality of life and good social relationships can simultaneously be consolidated.