Our Activities
Healthy aging is a global phenomenon. Bayer Pharmaceuticals is a leading force in raising awareness about the issues linked to it.
Asia Pacific 456
The demographic shift is a global phenomenon, but particularly critical in East Asia and Pacific which is aging faster than any other region. In December 2016, Bayer therefore initiated a stakeholder dialogue event in Singapore entitled “Transforming Aging with Health Innovation” with the focus on the Asia Pacific region. Chaired by Dr. Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State from the ministry of health in Singapore, this forum brought together high-level stakeholders from across the region to further shape the discussion about the challenges and opportunities of an aging society.
On this occasion Bayer in collaboration with the National University of Singapore launched the open innovation program Grants4Apps Singapore. This global crowdsourcing initiative helps to foster and support innovative digital health technology by challenging developers, startups and entrepreneurs. Its focus in Singapore is to find innovative solutions to improve medication adherence in elderly people with chronic medical conditions.
Perspectives
Health innovation such as new medicines and healthcare technologies has an important role to play in addressing the challenges in our aging societies. Besides helping people live longer, health innovation can also help people live healthier and more productive lives. The forum’s panel discussion on “Transforming Aging with Health Innovation” has exactly addressed this topic. It was broadcast on Channel News Asia as an episode of their series “Perspectives”, a dedicated TV format focusing on societal themes.
Medication adherence in elderly people
One crucial component in the treatment of chronic diseases is medication adherence. It is defined as “the extent to which a person’s behavior agrees with the agreed medication regimen from a health care provider”. Non-adherence has always been a problem among patients – approximately 50 % of patients do not take their medications as prescribed. And this is not only causing treatment failure but also higher costs and thus consequences for health care systems. Health care providers are faced with a unique set of problems working with patients, various and countless and especially critical for people over a certain age.
Get an impression on how far-reaching the topic of medication adherence is for elderly people and learn more about a few important factors:
The demographic shift in Asia Pacific
The world’s population is facing a demographic shift. This phenomenon is varying from region to region, depending on respective fertility rates as well as life expectancies. Learn more about this fact in Asia Pacific:
Brazil
Our commitment to Healthy Aging also takes us to Brazil where the demographic shift will soon become more noticeable as the fertility rates continue to decline and longevity increases. This combination means that the population growth rate is slowing while the number of elderly people in the country is steadily rising.
Right now, the Brazilian population is still relatively young in comparison to other countries – the number of people aged 65 and over is just 8% of the population, or 16.5 million people. However, the trend shows that this is set to change over the coming years. By 2050, the number of people aged 65 and over is predicted to almost triple to 23%, or 53.3 million people.
Our event in Sao Paulo, “Longevidade No Brasil – Envelhecimento Saudável Em Evidência” (Longevity in Brazil – putting healthy aging in the spotlight), brings together prominent members of Brazilian society to share their experience and work on the topic of aging. We also invited a patient to speak about their personal experience with aging while living with a chronic disease, as well as an internal expert who discusses Bayer’s contribution to the issues of an aging population.
The demographic shift in Brazil
The intensity of the demographic shift varies from region to region. Its impact in Brazil over the upcoming decades will cause an enormous change in society.
China
China is currently the largest population in the world with a total population of 1.4 billion in 2017. It also belongs to the top ten largest countries in the world with the lowest fertility rates. In 2015, the percentage of the total population over the age of 65 was 9.7%, this is predicted to reach 26.3% by 2050 – almost a threefold rise.
Our commitment to Healthy Aging raises awareness of healthy aging through Chinese media outlets in support of the Chongyang Festival. This traditional Chinese festival originates from ancient times and focuses on good health and longevity and is designated “Seniors’ Day” in China. It’s used as an opportunity to visit elderly relatives in the harvest season – in 2017 the day falls on October 28th.
Europe
Globally, the population aged 60 or over is the fastest growing. Europe has currently the greatest percentage of its population in this sector, over 24 per cent. In June 2016, Member of European Parliament (MEP) Lambert van Nistelrooij hosted a Bayer initiated stakeholder dialogue on “Harnessing new ways to empower healthy aging in Europe” at the European Parliament in Brussels. Together with our stakeholders, Bayer is helping change public perception of healthy aging by acknowledging and tackling the challenges of a demographic shift and aging worldwide.
Finland
The intersection of digital and aging
The next stop of our Healthy Aging journey lands us in Finland where we join the Digital Silver Forum which discusses the combination of two global megatrends: digitalization and aging societies. Attendees range from public policy experts to corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, all connecting to explore opportunities in the digital world to help with the needs of aging populations.
Digitalization of our healthcare systems
Digitalization has a huge impact on the way our healthcare systems are run. We are seeing the introduction of apps and wearables, giving consumers the chance to closely monitor their health. The ability to harness technology creates opportunities to provide services and solutions for the aging population. Accompanying us to Finland are two companies that are doing just that – Sky Labs and GlycoLeap are both winners of Bayer’s Grants4Apps program from the APAC region.
Digital solutions save money
Accenture estimates that that FDA-approved digital health solutions managed to save the United States USD 6 billion in 2014. Savings were primarily driven by medication adherence, changes in behavior and fewer visits to the emergency room. Lack of medication adherence is an issue that is common in older patients who often find it hard to juggle multiple medicines and prescriptions. This cost saving is expect to rise significantly to USD 18 billion for 2016 and USD 50 billion in 2018 as digital health solutions offer more ways to manage everyday healthcare and lifestyle.
Germany
The demographic shift is already at a very advanced stage in Germany. Therefore it is not surprising that Germany is currently the second oldest country in the world, after Japan. Life expectancy continues to rise while the birth rate remains low, with the result that the proportion of elderly people in the population has been growing consistently for a long time. This has enormous consequences for our societal coexistence.
For this reason, Bayer is also continuing its global initiative on the topic of Healthy Aging in Germany. At the annual press conference of Bayer Vital in August 2017, the discussion continued on healthy aging as it relates to the demographic developments in Germany and the effects on society. Among the speakers was guest of honor Prof. Dr. Bertram Häussler from the IGES Institute in Berlin, who spoke about the development of life expectancy and quality of life in Germany in the past century.
Japan
Japan is the oldest country in the world. The median age is steadily increasing and shows no sign of slowing over the next 30 years – by 2050 it is expected to reach 53.2 years1.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average life expectancy in Japan is 84.2 years, ranking 1st in the world, while healthy life span is 74.8 years, ranking just second in the world after Singapore2. In 2007, Japan was the first country to be named a super-aged society with more than 20% of the population aged 65 and older. Today this percentage has climbed to over 27%3.
It is therefore fitting that we take our activities to Japan where we are keen to promote a new angle to complete our holistic approach to Healthy Aging. We have seen the benefits of increasing awareness for healthy aging through diet, exercise, brain training and mindfulness, and this time we look at how communication is vital to healthy and happy aging.
From a psychological perspective, the isolation and loneliness that some older people experience can negatively impact their quality of life. Similarly, for younger generations who may be unsure about how to care for their aging parents, a lack of dialogue and information here can be a source of worry.
We conducted a survey on “aging, health and communication” to understand the importance of conversation to help combat loneliness and anxieties in older persons and promote healthy aging. We found that almost 70% of adults aged 65 and over felt anxious about getting older, with the top three worries being: the loss of physical strength, requiring nursing, and losing independence in day-to-day life. Despite these concerns, less than 50% of the people we spoke to talked openly about aging or age-related health concerns with their family, friends or doctor.
Portugal
Portugal is already a relatively old country with 20.7% of the population aged 65 or over in 2015. This is expected to rise, alongside the worldwide trend, to 35.6% by 2050. The UN estimates that Portugal will be the European country with the smallest proportion of children with just 11.7% under the age of 15 in 2050.
Taking action to promote Healthy Aging is important to us and in Portugal we hosted a range of events to support awareness for the topic. Starting in October and November, we conducted 2 roundtables with a range of diverse stakeholders in different areas of the country to dive deeper into the topic. Following this, we held a working meeting made up of a number of different industry sectors in order to brainstorm disruptive ideas to foster Healthy Aging. This culminated in a hackathon in January 2018 to discover innovative ways to promote Healthy Aging.
Vietnam
Vietnam is a young country, but projected to undergo a demographic transition marked by slowing population growth and aging. As the percentage of people aged 65 and above in Vietnam is set to be almost triple from 6.7% of the population in 2015 to 21.5% in 2050. As in China, Vietnam also belongs to the list of the ten largest low-fertility countries, explaining the growing proportion of older people in comparison to the younger generation.
Bayer partnered with Ho Chi Minh City Public Health Association and VTV9 to organize the dialogue “Is stroke preventable or not?” to mark World Stroke Day on October 29th. The topic is crucial in aging populations and was discussed by Professor Nguyen Huy Thang, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Stroke Association, and Tran Thi Lan Huong, Medical Director, Pharmaceuticals Division of Bayer in Vietnam.
