About 30 percent of people aged 65 or older have at least one abnormality among the “six capacities” deemed crucial for maintaining a good quality of life, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said.
Taiwan would become a super-aged society — where more than 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older — next year, the National Development Council said.
To promote healthy aging, the HPA earlier this week created a Line account named “measure elderly’s six capacities” (長者量六力).
Photo: CNA
The WHO defines healthy aging as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age,” and that functional ability is about “having the capabilities that enable all people to be and do what they have reason to value,” which consists of the intrinsic capacity of the individual, the environment and the interactions between them.
The six key domains of intrinsic capacity are: cognitive, locomotor (mobility), vitality (nutrition), visual, hearing and psychological capacities, the HPA said, citing the WHO’s Integrated care for older people guidelines.
Identifying conditions of intrinsic capacity loss provides an opportunity to intervene, slow, stop or reverse the declines, it said.
Data collected from about 227,000 elderly people at healthcare facilities last year showed that about 30 percent have declines in at least one of the “six capacities,” with visual impairment being the most common, the agency said.
The Line account provides interactive games to test elderly people’s intrinsic capacity, health messages in the form of pictures so they could easily share them with friends and short videos with information on the “six capacities,” the HPA said.
They also have a map with integrated information about the nearest healthcare facilities where elderly people can get more detailed capacity assessment or attend exercise activities, it added.
Online live courses by healthcare providers are also available, the HPA said.
As some older people might not be familiar with using smartphones or the messaging app, the service allows up to five people to register using the same smartphone, so caregivers can also help them register, it said.
For elderly people with reading disabilities or visual impairment, the capacity assessment can be played out in Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Hakka or English, it said.
People can search the Line ID (@hpaicope) in the messaging app to find its service, the HPA said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS