Page 106 - 2025 Special Report

the joint development of the elderly care industry elderly care services platform and the continuous
with an all-rounded vision. They are well-positioned improvements of laws and regulations.
in the strive to create elderly care communities
with specialty features and international stature. Significant prospects are present for cross-
border elderly care in the GBA. The development
of the Silver Economy will bring economic
6. Conclusion opportunities and, similarly, challenges. As the
GBA governments harness their efforts, support
As the global trend of an aging population will be given to policy-level coordination, facilities
continues to present challenges, the exploration constructions, the raising of service quality,
and practice of cross-border elderly care in the GBA technological application and cultural adaptation.
bear increasing significance. The GBA cities have Cross-border elderly care in the GBA will be the
been rolling out the relevant policies. The Mandatory answer to the elderly’s wish for aging well. It shall
Provident Fund of Hong Kong, community care and also serve as the exemplary for the nation, blazing
support services have provided the elderly with the trail for innovative elderly care in an exciting
protection in many significant respects. The double- new age.
tier social security system, economic assistance
and old age allowances of Macau have shown
a concerned approach in caring for the elderly.
Within the GBA, the nine cities of Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Foshan, Dongguan
and Huizhou have also implemented policies
and measures to promote the development of
cross-border elderly care services. In exploring
this development, health care protection, elderly
care finance and innovative elderly care have
become the critical areas of concern. In terms of
health care, the GBA has seen rising demand for
elderly care services due to an aging population.
There have been both cooperation and challenges
in the establishment of elderly care facilities,
medicine and medical equipment access and
Chinese medicine highlands development, but
emerging trends suggest a positive outlook in the
future. In terms of elderly care finance, the GBA
is leading the nation, but that is not to ignore
the prominent issues of underdevelopment and
unevenness in the system. It has been suggested
that key efforts must be made in furtherance
of multilevel elderly care safety net systems,
innovation of products, tax policies, supervision
mechanisms and technological innovations. For
innovative elderly care, technological innovations
will address the challenges of cross-border elderly
care. For example, virtual reality and augmented
reality technologies will enable remote health
care and the construction of big data platforms.
However, progress must also be made toward
the standardization and unification of data, a
wider circulation and sharing of cross-border
health care data, the establishment of regional

106 107