The assessment was made at a recent working session among experts from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), FHI360, HelpAge International, and Duc Giang General Hospital on elderly care.
At the meeting, Tran Bich Thuy, country director of HelpAge International, said that on average, each older person in Vietnam suffers from three diseases, mainly chronic conditions that require lifelong monitoring and treatment.
Vietnam’s aging population structure presents many challenges: 63.28 percent of older people live in rural areas, where access to healthcare and care services remains limited; 58.5 percent are in the young-old group (aged 60–69), while nearly 16 percent are aged 80 and above. Women account for as much as 57.82 percent of the total elderly population.
More worryingly, 35 percent of older people live alone, live with a spouse who is also elderly, or live in households consisting only of older people and grandchildren under 15. This group is particularly vulnerable to loneliness, functional decline, and lack of care support.
Less than 40 percent of older people receive pensions, social insurance, social allowances, or benefits for people with meritorious service. Most of the rest have to rely on their children or continue working to make a living.
According to 2024 data from the National Committee on the Elderly, the poverty rate among households with older people is 3.6 percent, while the near-poor rate is as high as 11.6 percent.
Experts analyzed the care needs as well as the affordability of the elderly in Vietnam, and introduced many models being deployed around the world such as: elderly self-caring and being cared for by their families; Intergenerational Self-Help Clubs; community-based long-term care; day-care centers; and social protection centers.
They agreed that, with current socio-economic conditions, Vietnam needs a flexible, reasonably priced, community-based care model on a large scale and maintained sustainably in the long term.
Day-care centers
Among the models mentioned, day-care centers for the elderly are believed to be an important solution in the long-term care system.
According to Thuy, this model focuses on preventive care, integrated and flexible care, targeting older people who are beginning to experience functional decline, partial impairment, or are at high risk due to loneliness, limited mobility, or memory decline.
“Older people can come to the center by session or by day, going in the morning and returning home in the evening, suitable for different levels of care from basic to advanced,” Thuy said.
Compared with nursing homes, the day care model has many outstanding advantages: strong preventive value, helping reduce the burden on the healthcare system.
Flexible scheduling suits both older people and their families and a community-based approach is easy to link with existing health and social services.
Care costs are more reasonable, especially when there is cooperation between the State, enterprises, community and people. If applying the Public-Private-People Partnership (PPPP) model, the centers can take advantage of public facilities, mobilizing the participation of mass organizations, families, and local clubs.
Legal basis to ensure security
According to Thuy, day-care centers for the elderly have initially had a legal basis, mentioned in the Law on Population, the National Action Program on Elderly Healthcare, and the National Strategy on the Elderly.
This is a model contributing to social security for vulnerable elderly groups, such as those who are alone, homeless, unable to care for themselves, or whose families do not have enough conditions to provide care.
Do Dinh Tung, Director of Duc Giang General Hospital, said that this is an opportunity for the hospital to apply advanced and comprehensive elderly care models.
Tung expressed a desire to continue receiving advice, support, and companionship from UNFPA, FHI360, and HelpAge International in the process of deploying the Elderly Care Center at Duc Giang General Hospital in the coming time.
In late December 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long signed Prime Minister’s Directive No35 on strengthening elderly care work in response to population aging.
Under the directive, the Ministry of Health is responsible for guiding localities in developing day care models and community activity centers for older people following the “morning pick-up, evening drop-off” approach; supporting elderly care at home, in the community, and at elderly care facilities; and promoting the expansion of clubs for older people as well as intergenerational self-help clubs.
Vo Thu
