Jobs, Development, and Future

Though not as many elders live with their families as before anymore, they still receive financial support from their families since they tend to be sickly or weak. For those who move back to rural areas, they cannot simply live return to their old lifestyle of farming and such. Thus, the sources of income, availability of jobs in the future, and progress in the country will reflect the assistance elders receive from their children or immediate family.

Vietnam is expected to create 1.6 million jobs in 2011. In April, companies in Ho Chi Minh City needed about 87,000 new employees for the second quarter because of new projects and orders. Also recently, a new project was announced to plant 5 million hectares nationwide. Such development stems from the Deputy Prime Minister’s belief that “raising people’s awareness of forest protection and development is important for national development.” Whatever benefits it may bring to the nation, for one thing, it will give jobs to thousands of people. As these people have money to care for themselves and their children, they can extend their aid to their old parents. It also means that those healthy, independent elders may have jobs to care for themselves. Many of these elders grew up in an agriculture economy, being used to planting for the seasons, so they will have the experience and expertise that make them suitable for the job, assuming that they won’t be discriminated against because of their age.

To simply put it, more jobs offered to the citizens simply make it easy on the later generations to care for the older generations or for the older generations to care for themselves.

People with Disabilities

Ho Chi Minh City's Charitable Centre of Training and Offering Jobs for The Handicapped held a festival for people with disabilities. They had several activities and entertainments, with the purpose of uplifting the handicapped people's self-confidence and encouraging them to participate more in the society. This is important because the disabled people are members of the community. Their disabilities already make many wary, and so as they age, they tend to regress from their community. It's necessary for them to speak up and let their voices be heard so the government will pay attention to them and work to improve their opportunities as they progress through their conditions or as they age while bearing the conditions.

Similar activities should be offered for the elderly population. Since they are declining in health, they may feel useless or helpless because of their inability to carry out daily tasks like before or because of the work places that do not want to hire them anymore. Therefore, organizations should not just focus on developing caring services for the elderly but also providing programs or creating activities that can help older people feel more involved with the society, that they can still contribute in some ways. (Many organizations exist that are active in helping the elders, such as Women's Union, Vietnam Red Cross, international Non-governmental Organizations). There is a shortage of organizations and services, but since those organizations are already helping out, they should take development and progress further.

Growth and Availability

Image shows one of the hospitals in Vietnam. Not all hospitals are as grand as the ones in the United States.

The Director of the Population Information and Data Centre, Nguyen Quoc Anh commented in 2009, "Growth of the elderly population in Viet Nam has been much faster than that in many other countries around the world." This means that Vietnam has many issues and challenges to deal with, including the need to improve the health welfare system, provide healthy environments for better living, and fund elder care centers. Since many elders are concentrated in rural areas, local assistance and resources are also essential.

Recently, Vietnam has announced that more hospitals will soon be built. The country will also work on stabilizing drug prices, monitoring pharmacies, and ensuring proper equipment usage in hospitals. This is good news because more people, especially elders, will have access to care. The major problem is whether these elderly will make good use of the health systems available to them because they, especially those in villages or rural areas, may choose herbal remedies instead. Access also may not be available to them because of the lack of transportation. Even with new hospitals, the doctor-patient ratio is expected to increase to 13 per 10,000. It's a possibility that elders will have to wait longer and may lose the patience along the way.

Nonetheless, the rapid increase in the elder population does not give enough time for preparations, since the country is also busy making changes and adapting in other aspects.

Rural Development

According to World Bank, "ninety percent of the poor in Vietnam, or three quarters of the population live in the rural areas." These people rely on agriculture activities to live and survive. Policies and reforms have contributed to development and progress in this sector as Vietnam is transitioning into a market economy. People in these rural areas now have rights to land use and incentives to work because of higher crop prices. Furthermore, the community has offered job trainings to rural people. Though progress has been made, they still face problems such as unsustainable natural resources and vulnerability to natural disasters. This makes people wary, not wanting to expand in the rural regions.

Limited investments mean limited resources for the people there. It means that people will not have access to modern health care (hospitals, medicines, etc.) or access to services and organizations that can assist them. This will greatly influence the elderly and aging population. Having extra resources can only help them if they decide to use them one day. Development is good in that it introduces new things to the elders, granting them their source of entertainment. Many Vietnamese elders in rural areas do enjoy living a leisure lifestyle, but they also want to be active. Professionals such as occupational therapists would agree that active involvement helps people live a better life because it stimulates their mind. Even with repetitive activities, they are constantly doing something, helping with cognitive processing and steering away from cognitive decline.

Familial Life

Similar to many Asian countries, Vietnam puts great emphasis on filial piety, obedience, and loyalty. The elders are generally respected and are the "leaders", though not necessarily the dominant contributors, of the household because of their status and experience. Their role is mainly to educate their children and grandchildren and maintain the cultural and familial values. The elderly, or aging parents, expect their children to take care of them. This Vietnamese saying best summarizes it: "the young rely on their father, the elderly rely on their children" (note that this is a rough translation of the saying). The cultural values often result in multigenerational and patriarchal aspects of a Vietnamese family.

Unfortunately, because of political, economical, and social changes--which all affect each other in some ways--, the trend of extended families or multigenerational households is decreasing. There is an increasing number of nuclear families, which typically include the parents and children. With the focus on making money and caring for their children, the parents do not have time to care for their own parents. Because of this, the elders often live by themselves, with many moving back to the rural areas where resources are limited and far away. Separation and loneliness bring about other psychological disturbances that affect their quality of life. Even if the elders are lucky to be able to live with their children and their children, they feel the obligations to teach their grandchildren. Nevertheless, the changing society poses such difficulties. Without proper parental supervision and with negatively influential friends, these kids can sway into doing drugs and engaging in violence. This only brings about greater burden for the Vietnamese elders and stress them further as they age. It also contributes to anxiety and stress in the parents, struggling between caring for their children and making money to support their daily living.

This is an important social aspect of aging in Vietnam because the family is very important to the people. For many of the elderly, their lives have been and are still guided by the traditional customs and values, but changes are happening everyday that require them to adjust. Elders have a lot of pressure and stress dealing with such things that require them to be more open-minded. Such external and internal struggles bring about emotional responses and contribute to unhappiness, unless they can adapt well-enough without feeling like they are forced to change who they are and who they've been.

Sources: Beyond Boundaries, Culture and Customs of Vietnam

Inadequate Nourishment

Malnutrition is a big topic in Vietnam, but the focus is often on children. Because parents worry about leaving their children in hunger, they tend to sacrifice their foods to ensure that their children will have enough to eat. This kind of emphasis from the parents is partly the reason why so much attention is given to children malnutrition even though parents and the elderly are also suffering.

There is a high percentage of malnourished children in Vietnam even though the rate has significantly decreased in the past years. In 2010, they determined that the rate of underweight children is about 17.5% while it is 29.3% for children with stunted growth. However, Vietnam is still working on reducing the malnutrition rates. Even recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has agreed to provide assistance to Vietnamese children for the next five years.

One of the reasons why this is an important issue it could greatly affect future financial distributions, focusing on providing for children rather than investing in programs for the elderly. Allocating resources to children could possibly mean that the elders will be left behind. This could mean less programs to provide resources to health options, to reduce elderly malnutrition, and to assist with other issues.

It is also an issue that is necessary to understand and work on because long-term malnutrition results in defects and diseases such as diabetes in later life. Studies have found that overweight or obesity and nutritionally-related chronic diseases (NRCD) are "on the rise at an alarming rate." NRCD includes hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. A 2005 survey found that the distribution of overweight/obesity is about 43% in the 45-54 urban age group. This percentage is higher relative to other age groups (for more information, refer to this review article). Thus, fighting children malnutrition can only mean that children will grow up healthier, and when they become adults, they will be less prone to particular nutritionally-deficient diseases, leading to a healthier nation.

Away from Poverty

It seems nearly impossible to eliminate poverty but it is always good news when the level of poverty decreases. This is the recent case in Vietnam! In fact, "the poverty rate in ethnic-inhabited areas decreased from 47 percent in 2006 to 28.8 percent in 2010." Such change is due to Programme 135 (Phase 2) implemented with the goal of improving the quality of life in rural areas. In Phase 1, the program has helped reduce the country's overall poverty rate from 47% in 2005 to 35% in 2008. Now, the country is in Phase 3.

Additionally, Vietnam is no longer considered a low-income country, but a middle-income country. Just two decades ago, Vietnam was still one of the world's poorest countries. Even though the country struggles with other financial issues, the recent change shows that businesses are improving, suggesting that Vietnam is economically expanding and people's lives are much better. This is because of increased GDP (growth domestic product), which is often tied to the standard of living.

With positive changes away from high poverty rates and low incomes, people's lives are much better. This shows that programs have been implemented effectively, though there are always room for improvements. A better quality of life for the working class means a better quality of life for the elders. Traditionally, Vietnamese emphasizes filial piety. And so, it is expected for the children to care for their aging parents. With more people swaying from poverty and having the financial means to take care of themselves, they will more able to take care of the elderly. This also means that the elders will more likely accept assistance from their children. Though filial piety and reciprocation are emphasized in the culture, some elders don't want to burden their children and choose to live independently, preferring to deal with the situations themselves even when they are not competent. There are elders who are forced to rely on their children, even when their children are in financial troubles. This brings about emotional disturbance and guilt. Nevertheless, improved conditions provide the opportunities for children to offer a helping hand.

Note that this post is not meant to say that Vietnam is without poverty issues. It is still facing problems especially in the two major urban areas of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Nevertheless, plans and implementations are works in process.

Population Expansion

Vietnam is a Socialist Republic located in Southeast Asia. Though small in size, it is the 13th most populated country in the world, with over 89 million inhabitants. According to a 2010 estimation, about 26% are 0-14 years of age, ~68% are 15-64 years old, and ~6% are 65 years and over. Though the "elders" make up only a small percentage of the population, most of the population is in the aging process. The children make up one-third of Vietnam's population. That is about 23 millions children, which is a tremendously large number. However, with the nation expanding and transitioning into a developing country, health will be a major concern. Very much like the United States, Vietnam will have a problem when then the baby boom generation ages. Health policies and solutions in Vietnam is different from those in the U.S., but when coupled with the developments in the country, it raises a warning flag. People will demand more as Vietnam gains more. Several political, economical, and social issues be will critical in understanding what the current and future elderly will face.