Hiện tượng dân số ngày một già đi đang diễn ra nhanh nhất tại các nước nghèo. Nhưng một số hệ thống y tế trên thế giới có thể đang phải vật lộn để đương đầu với gánh nặng ngày càng gia tăng do dân số già hơn so với trước đây.

While Europe and Japan were among the first places to see their population ageing, the phenomenon is now occurring fastest in low and middle-income nations and WHO says the most dramatic changes are taking place in countries such as Cuba, Iran and Mongolia.

This means that where in the past infections were considered the greatest challenge, now even in the poorest countries the biggest health burdens for older people come from conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer,diabetes, dementia and sight and hearing loss.

WHO says present heath systems are poorly designed for the chronic care needs arising from this pattern of disease. The campaigning organisation HelpAge International welcomed the new focus on the impact of ageing but saidthe global community was still worryingly slow to act.

HelpAge cited Ghana where it said nearly sixty per cent of older people suffer from high blood pressure often leading to strokes and heart attacks but only five per cent are able to control it through medication.

Từ vựng

aging(getting older)

già đi, già nua

phenomenon (something unusual that happens)

hiện tượng (đặc biệt, bất thường)

burdens (difficult things people have to deal with)

những gánh nặng, khó khăn

stroke (a problem with the brain which can make someone unable to move a part of their body)

đột quỵ

cancer (a serious disease in which cells in the body grow uncontrollably)

ung thư

diabetes (a serious illness in which the body is unable to control the amount of sugar in the blood)

bệnh tiểu đường (đái đường)

dementia (a mental illness which older people can suffer)

bệnh mất trí tuổi già

chronic (describes an illness or problem which continues for a long time)

kinh niên, lâu năm

the global community (the group of countries which sees itself as connected, often helping each other economically and socially)

cộng đồng toàn cầu

high blood pressure (a medical condition in which the force of blood in the veins is too high)

huyết áp cao