China and the Netherlands: A good match

China’s population is ageing faster than that of other middle-income countries. By 2060, almost 400 million inhabitants will be 60 and older. This poses significant healthcare challenges. China wants to transform its healthcare system and is looking for a new balance between professional care and family care with a strong focus on home care, followed by community-based care at the second level, and institutional care for ultimate support. Given the profound experience of The Netherlands in providing cost-effective home and community care solutions, the Netherlands serve as an inspirational model for China.

Mutual interest

At the same time, Dutch organizations are eager to learn about China’s rapid digital transformation in healthcare and how they organize elderly care on such a large scale. Both countries can learn from the experiences and lessons of the other in order to develop future-proof elderly care.

Collaboration at the highest level

One of China’s most important government agencies, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has signed an MoU with the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to address the challenges of its ageing society together. Task Force Health Care coordinates the implementation of this MoU on the Dutch side through this multi-annual programme. Task Force Health Care closely collaborates with the Dutch embassy in Beijing and knowledge partner Vilans.

Milestones

In order to facilitate and strengthen Sino-Dutch cooperation in the field of elderly care, knowledge exchange is one of the key components of the programme. The following deliverables have been completed so far:

Mapping Dutch Elderly Care landscape

The mapping of the Dutch elderly care landscape presents four prominent ‘elderly care’ themes: prevention; integrated care; care at home; and dementia care. The mapping describes the aforementioned four themes and takes a deep-dive into the corresponding policies, research, education & training, technological innovation and organizational implementation. Per area, a brief summary is given including referencing to relevant publications. This mapping has been developed together with knowledge partner Vilans. The mapping has been presented to and shared with NDRC and other Chinese stakeholders.

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Proposition booklet

15 Dutch LSH organisations share their solutions in the proposition booklet. Last year the kick-off meeting for the multi-annual programme on elderly care with NDRC revealed the need for a more concise and concrete proposition from the Netherlands. Which Dutch organizations want to collaborate with China on elderly care and what is their added value? As a result, a proposition booklet has been developed. The booklet includes a short summary of the Dutch elderly care landscape and the solutions of 15 Dutch LSH organizations that are eager to address the related challenges through Sino-Dutch collaboration.

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Next Steps

With the support of the Dutch embassy in Beijing the mapping and proposition booklet are shared with existing and new stakeholders in China. Based on their feedback small scale webinars will be organized in spring 2022 between Dutch involved parties and their relevant Chinese counterparts. Geographically the current focus is on the metropolitan areas of Suzhou, Nanjijng and Shanghai.

As a follow-up we aim to organize a physical visit to China in the beginning of 2023 including seminars, site-visits and matchmaking, provided that the Covid-19 travel restrictions have been significantly reduced.

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Market information

This report by AMEHR presents the trends and opportunities in China for Dutch stakeholders active in the field of elderly care. This study was commissioned by RVO as part of the partners in the international business (PIB) programme on elderly care (2018-2021).