Research Based on Age Friendly Communities in Singapore

Running head: RESEARCH BASED BRIEFING PAPER
RESEARCH BASED BRIEFING PAPER
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Issues Brief
PREPARED FOR: AGE FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES IN SINGAPORE
REQUESTED BY:
PREPARED BY:
DATE:
Issue Statement: Grant for an age friendly community, for the aging population of Singapore
influenced by the success of the program in Australia.
Background and Discussion
According to WHO the population of the world is aging rapidly. As per the reports
published by WHO, in 2006, about 500 million population of the world was older and by 2030
the figure will rise up to 1 billion. And by 2050, about 2 million populations will become senior
citizens. In the low and the middle income countries the aging population is faced with a lot of
problems such as communicable diseases, lack of proper infrastructural facilities. There are
certain issues that cater to the ill heath of the aged population. Some of these are lack of pensions
and social protection from the families (Buffel, Phillipson & Scharf, 2012). Age discrimination,
as the society might think it would be wise enough to invest time on the young population as
they are the future of the country. Another factor is the lack of consideration of the older people
in humanitarian response during critical or emergency conditions. It should be kept in mind that
increase in the aging population of the world has got global implications. The elder persons are

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more susceptible to the non-communicable diseases and injuries related to falls and other
terminal illness that requires proper palliative care (Willes et al., 2012). They are also vulnerable
to the cognitive disorders and hence require special attention to avoid mortality and morbidity.
As per the reports, the aging problem is quite critical as the average life span of people has
increased largely which is responsible for the increase in the adult population (Fitzgerald &
Caro, 2014). As far as the health care is considered, the Singapore healthcare is still not efficient
enough to address all the requirements of the aged care. Setting up of any care facilities requires
a well planned financing system. The Singapore government is still trying to strive for proper
retirement and finance plans in order to provide securities to the aged population. Furthermore
The Singapore government is also looking out for plans to keep the aged people in the workforce
to ensure healthy and independent living for them. In order to ensure a better life for the growing
aged population, provision of age friendly communities has to be granted by the government
(Willes et al., 2012). Till now, Australia has made a wide spread progress in providing aged care
facilities by the provision of Age friendly communities. The department of communities of the
Western Australia supports the development of the age friendly communities. The age friendly
communities provide spaces, planned programs and initiatives to make a community suitable for
all groups of people (Kendig, Elias, Matwijiw & Anstey, 2014).
In Australia, grants up to $10,000 are available to the local governments for undertaking
the planning of the aged friendly community. There are grants up to $20,000 for the local
government to work in collaboration with other local governments and other private
organizations to set up a better community for the construction of the age friendly community
(Kendig, Elias, Matwijiw & Anstey, 2014).

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Options and/or Recommendations:
The proposed options for setting up an age friendly community is the provision of certain
services such as recognition of the wide ranges of resources and capacities among the older
people.
Prompt responses to the needs of the aged people, respecting their dignity and integrity,
providing them with financial security, encouraging them to remain engaged in work to ensure
healthy and independent living, provision of pensions for the retired ones, provision of public
toilets, These are the options that can help in building up a successful all aged care community
(Scharlach, 2012).
According to the author Barusch, (2013), the development of an all aged care community can be
faced with several barriers. The Singapore government had created aged friendly neighborhoods
throughout the islands. As claimed by the ministry of Singapore The Ministry of health (MOH)
and the ministry for community development have developed new aged care facilities such as
senior activity centers, senior care centers, nursing homes (Tiong et al., 2013).
According to the reports, space and manpower is scarce in Singapore. The health care
services for the adults are all quite costly. The senior activity centers and the senior care centers
would help the elderly people to socialize among themselves (Kendig & Phillipson, 2014).
Furthermore the senior care centers will be able to provide integrated day care facilities such as
dementia care and day care to the elderly patients. As per the government the centers will be able
to provide home care deliver services (Fitzgerald & Caro, 2014). As seen from the reports these
are some of the initiatives taken by the government of Singapore to address the needs of the aged
care.

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In order to provide a long term care facilities to aged population, the Ministry of health,
Singapore had provided with government subsidy for the aged care. The government of
Singapore had introduced a six tiered subsidy framework for the elderly persons in the
community ward. The ministry of health has introduced ‘Medisave, medishield and the
medifund” policies for helping out the individuals to meet the hospitalization of the family
members. A per the reports, the government of Singapore is still facing with the issue of the
health care costs, availability of the hospital beds for the aged care (Greenfield, 2012). There is
lot more still to be done in order to frame an appropriate all aged care community in Singapore.
In order to resolve the issues there should be sub teams appointed for each of the sector in order
to focus on each of the issues (Emlet & Moceri, 2012). An appropriate leadership is necessary to
bring about any positive changes in the institution. They will not only help to increase the
workforce and would also help to motivate them.
It is evident that the financing of the Singapore aged care needs to be brushed up for
increasing the facilities, but there are certain risks to this. Increase in the health care costs of the
country an increase the burden of the other sectors of the country.
Implementation
The solution has to be implemented by the committees in charge of the health care. The
solution has to be implemented by the committees that have been appointed. The key steps
involved in the development of al aged care community are as follows- age friendly transport
facilities for accessing proper health services, a secure and safe environment, walkways cycle
paths, age friendly buildings, provision of elevators, escalators, slip flooring, proper housing,

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safety pedestrian crossings and more (Fitzgerald & Caro, 2014). Proper security and care to those
people who cannot access the healthcare. In order to accomplish this, it is required to chalk out a
suitable and a stipulated budget. The whole plan should be aimed at completing within a year.
Communication
The authorities or the groups that are responsible for making policies regarding aged care
facilities should be disseminated with the information regarding the recommendations. The
recommendations can be communicated by conducting essential meetings with the committees
or by publishing suitable newsletters. E-mail alerts, web pages, robo-calls and phone trees. An
effective communication plan would be able to break down the barriers to change by getting
everyone at the same page and helping the stake holders in getting engaged in the needs for the
change (Emlet & Moceri, 2012).

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References
Barusch, A. S. (2013). Age-friendly cities: A social work perspective.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01634372.2013.826563
Buffel, T., Phillipson, C., & Scharf, T. (2012). Ageing in urban environments: Developing ‘age-
friendly’cities. Critical Social Policy, 32(4), 597-617.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0261018311430457
Emlet, C. A., & Moceri, J. T. (2012). The importance of social connectedness in building age-
friendly communities. Journal of aging research, 2012.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/173247
Fitzgerald, K. G., & Caro, F. G. (2014). An overview of age-friendly cities and communities
around the world. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 26(1-2), 1-18.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2014.860786
Greenfield, E. A. (2012). Using ecological frameworks to advance a field of research, practice,
and policy on aging-in-place initiatives. The Gerontologist, 52(1), 1-12.
https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnr108
Kendig, H., & Phillipson, C. (2014). Building age-friendly communities: New approaches to
challenging health and social inequalities. IF YOU COULD DO ONE THING..., 102.
http://www.momentumnorfolk.org.uk
Kendig, H., Elias, A. M., Matwijiw, P., & Anstey, K. (2014). Developing age-friendly cities and
communities in Australia. Journal of aging and health, 26(8), 1390-1414.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0898264314532687

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Scharlach, A. (2012). Creating aging-friendly communities in the United States. Ageing
international, 37(1), 25-38. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12126-011-9140-1
Tiong, W. W., Yap, P., Huat Koh, G. C., Phoon Fong, N., & Luo, N. (2013). Prevalence and risk
factors of depression in the elderly nursing home residents in Singapore. Aging & mental
health, 17(6), 724-731. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2013.775638
Wiles, J. L., Leibing, A., Guberman, N., Reeve, J., & Allen, R. E. (2012). The meaning of “aging
in place” to older people. The gerontologist, 52(3), 357-366.
https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnr098

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Appendix:
Communication plan
Audience Message Media Frequency Timing Responsibility
Committees of
the ministry of
health
To discuss
about the
existing plan
regarding the
aged care
facilities.
Face to face
meeting or
weekly written
reports
Twice in every
one month
As per the
requirement
Head of the
committee.
Committee To discuss
about the
possible flaws
and
unaddressed
points
Face to face
meeting or
weekly written
reports
Twice in a
month
As per the
requirement
Committee head
Private
organizations
and the
members of
the committee
Enlist the tasks
that have to be
done in the
near future.
Face to face
meetings
Twice As per the
requirement
All the
members
Committee
members
Discuss the
terms of the
new policy,
discussing
Face to face
meetings and
declaration of
the new
Once in a
month
As per the
requirement
Head of the
health ministry