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.