Health care costs running faster than inflation in 11 Asian countries
In China, the growth is six times higher than inflation. The increase in non-communicable diseases and the loosening of family ties are worrying trends. Economic development has changed the population's diet, doubling the number of diabetics in the Asia-Pacific region.
New York (AsiaNews Agencies) – Driven by aging populations and a thirst for better medical care, health spending has resumed its upward trend, rising at its fastest pace in seven years, with health spending in Asia outpacing inflation by a wide margin in 11 countries.
According to an analysis by the United Nations-backed Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “long-term care was the fastest-growing area of health spending” prior to the 2008-9 global financial crisis.
But while growth has slowed, it remains relatively strong with loosening of familial bonds as one of the main causes, with relatively fewer families keeping the aged in their homes and instead relying on long-term care facilities.
As emerging countries develop, their spending on health has also zoomed up at an unsettling rate according to a study by the Mercer March health consulting firm.
Spending on health in Indonesia skyrocketed by 14.3 per cent, outpacing inflation at 3.8 per cent by nearly four times. The Philippines was second at 12.4 per cent annual increase compared with an inflation increase of 3.2 per cent. China’s trend rate, at 9.5 per cent, was nearly six times inflation at 1.6 per cent.
Analysts also worry about the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases – chronic diseases like cancer, heart problems, diabetes, etc. – which are responsible for 60-90 percent of deaths each year in the Asia-Pacific region and are expected to increase by 40 per cent across the region by 2030, this again according to Mercer March.
in 2015, the region was home to more than 231 million diabetics, almost triple those June 15 years earlier, as weight gain and bad diets take their toll.
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23/11/2006
