Total: 405 good practice(s). Download
Viet Nam has pioneered an integrated community-based long-term care model that supports older persons to age in place through coordinated health and social care services. Trained community caregivers provide home-based support, conduct needs assessments, and connect older persons with health and social protection services. The model strengthens family caregiving while reducing caregiver burden and improving older persons' well-being. Pilot implementation in multiple provinces has demonstrated positive outcomes and provides a promising framework for scaling up affordable, person-centred long-term care in rapidly ageing societies.
Older persons with reduced physical or cognitive functioning, including in rural and underserved communities as well as family caregivers.
The integrated community-based long-term care pilot in Viet Nam improved the health, well-being, and independence of older persons by providing coordinated home- and community-based health and social care services. Through regular home visits, needs assessments, and individualized care plans, older people were better able to manage chronic conditions, maintain daily functioning, and remain in their communities. The programme also reduced the burden on family caregivers by offering training, guidance, and support. In addition, it strengthened collaboration among health providers, social services, community organizations, and volunteers, demonstrating a practical, scalable, and cost-effective model for supporting healthy ageing and ageing in place.
The groundwork was established through the ADB regional technical assistance project Strengthening Developing Member Countries' Capacity in Elderly Care, which included Viet Nam and supported the development of LTC policies, planning, and stakeholder capacity.
The Integrated Community-Based Long-Term Care (LTC) Model in Viet Nam is considered a good practice because it provides person-centred, community-based care that enables older persons to age in place, rather than relying on costly institutional care. By bringing health and social services together, the model addresses the multiple and interconnected needs of older people in a coordinated manner.
The programme also strengthens and supports family caregiving, which remains the primary source of long-term care in Viet Nam. Through training, guidance, and community support, it reduces the physical, emotional, and financial burden on family caregivers while improving the quality of care provided to older persons.
Another key strength is its use of local resources and community networks, including commune health stations, community caregivers, volunteers, and Older Persons' Associations. This makes the model relatively affordable, sustainable, and adaptable to both rural and urban settings.
Advancing the Scale-Up of Integrated Community-Based Long-Term Care for Older People – HelpAge International tại Việt NamDeveloping Innovative Community-Based Long-Term Care Systems and Services: Lessons from a Pilot Project in Viet Nam | Asian Development Bank
The Integrated Community-Based Screening Programme (ICBSP) is a model where healthcare workers visit villages and remote areas to screen older persons for the 'big five' impairments (visual and hearing loss, mobility decline, cognitive impairment, malnutrition, and depression).
Older persons in rural areas/villages in Bhutan
Data collected from this model enabled the creation of a national Digital Health Database for seniors. Through the health checks, it was found that around 20% of seniors living rurally needed immediate interventions for cataracts or mobility issues. These interventions would have gone unnoticed without the ICBSP model.
his model was developed as a response to the country's demographic shift. The wellbeing of Bhutanese elderly was usually viewed through the Gross National Happiness philosophy. This is the first standardized medical model that brings geriatric care into the primary care system.
This model adopts the WHO model of Integrated Care for Older People, but adapts it for rural settings by making the screening mobile rather than hospital-based.
The CNMI Office on Aging provides a package of community-based services designed to support older persons and persons with disabilities across the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The programme operates multi-purpose senior centres that offer nutritious meals, exercise sessions, health-related activities, social interaction and recreational opportunities in a safe and accessible environment. Transportation services help older persons access pensions, Social Security benefits, medical appointments, financial institutions and essential community services. The programme also promotes active ageing through computer literacy classes, cultural activities, music, arts and crafts, gardening, physical exercise and intergenerational learning opportunities. The Nutrition Services Program provides both congregate meals for active participants and home-delivered meals for homebound older persons, helping reduce malnutrition and social isolation while enabling older persons to remain in their homes and communities.
A YouTube channel by the Office of Ageing raises awareness on healthy and active ageing.
Older persons in Northern Mariana Islands
The programme has created accessible community hubs for older persons on all three inhabited islands
The programme originated when the Older Americans Act (OAA) was extended to the Northern Marianas in 1974, leading to the establishment of an ageing programme for older persons in the territory. The current Office on Aging emerged as the institutional mechanism responsible for implementing OAA-funded services for older persons
This practice adopts a holistic approach to ageing by integrating nutrition, mobility, social participation, lifelong learning, health promotion and community support within a single service system.
(427) CNMI OoA - YouTube
The Red Crescent Society of Kyrgyzstan implements a community‑based care model for older people that combines home‑based social and health support with active participation and volunteer engagement. Through trained community volunteers working in coordination with state social workers, older persons—particularly those living alone, with disabilities, or in rural areas—receive assistance with daily activities, access to health services, delivery of food and medicines, psychosocial support, and provision of assistive devices. The model also promotes active ageing by supporting day‑care centres, elderly clubs, and self‑help groups where older people contribute as peer supporters and community volunteers. This approach proved especially effective during emergencies, including COVID‑19, enabling outreach to thousands of older people while safeguarding dignity and reducing isolation.
Older persons requiring long-term care
The initiative has significantly improved access to social and basic health services for vulnerable older people in Kyrgyzstan, particularly those living alone or with limited mobility. By 2017, the model had reached approximately 400 vulnerable older people, supported by around 200 trained community volunteers, delivering home‑based social care, household assistance, and health‑related support in coordination with state social workers. Importantly, 100% of older persons with low mobility who requested support received assistive equipment, enabling greater independence and social participation.
The community‑based care initiative for older people in Kyrgyzstan was developed incrementally, in response to growing social care gaps and limited institutional capacity. In the mid‑2010s, the Red Crescent Society of Kyrgyzstan (RCSK) identified increasing isolation, poverty, and unmet care needs among older persons, particularly those living alone or with limited mobility, through its routine social assistance and health outreach work. Drawing on IFRC community‑based home care standards and lessons from volunteer‑led health and social programmes, RCSK piloted a model that combined home‑based support, trained community volunteers, and coordination with state social workers, ensuring complementarity with public social services rather than duplication.
The practice is cost‑effective, scalable, and aligned with the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, making it a transferable example for countries with limited long‑term care infrastructure.
Integrated home Based Care in Kyrgyzstan | Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung
Rapid demographic change with increased life expectancy and increasing unhealthy years have driven sustained growth in long-term care (LTC) needs. Traditional family care—once dominant—has declined as household structures changed, increasing reliance on formal systems.
To address growing care demands, Japan introduced the Long‑Term Care Insurance (LTCI) system in 2000, through Long-Term Care Insurance Law (Law No. 123 of 1997) integrating previously fragmented welfare and medical-care arrangements. Municipalities serve as insurers; eligibility begins at age 40, with older adults receiving care based on assessed support/care levels. Users pay a 10% co‑payment, with the remainder funded through premiums and national–prefectural–municipal subsidies. LTCI expanded access to home‑, community‑, and facility‑based services and shifted care from hospitals to more appropriate settings.
Japan is now promoting integrated community care, emphasizing ageing in place, coordination between medical and LTC services, and diversified housing options.
Older persons requiring long-term care and their families
Long-term care insurance increased access to formal care services and reduced public health expenditure. The introduction of the long-term care insurance also reduced the cost of long-term care and overall healthcare costs for the Government. (Source: Government of Japan, Survey for the Fourth Asia-Pacific Review and Appraisal of MIPAA).
It was developed because public healthcare expenditure became unsustainable because of the lack of long-term care insurance.
Before LTCI, long‑term care was split among welfare programs and health insurance, leading to inefficiencies and over‑medicalization of care. The introduction of LTCI integrated social welfare and medical care systems and rationalized service delivery. This reduced inappropriate hospital use and provided a clearer care pathway for older persons. It also provides a model of learning from failure and reforming unsustainable systems.
Long-term care in Japan
Kotoen is a social welfare organization in Tokyo, established in 1962 as a nursing home and later expanded to provide comprehensive care services for older persons, children, and persons with disabilities. It is widely known for its pioneering intergenerational care model, which brings together people of all ages under one roof—combining eldercare, childcare, disability support, and community services to foster mutual support and social inclusion. Through residential care, daycare services, home support, and community outreach initiatives, Kotoen aims to create a “shared living” environment where different generations interact, support one another, and live with dignity. Over the years, it has evolved into a community-based hub that promotes inclusive welfare, preventive care, and innovative approaches to ageing, while serving as an internationally recognized model for intergenerational engagement.
Key beneficiaries are all age groups requiring care, such as older persons, children and persons with disabilities.
The model has strengthened community cohesion and mutual support, creating a “family-like” environment across generations and reducing social isolation. Beyond individual benefits, Kotoen has become an internationally recognized good practice, influencing similar intergenerational care models in Japan and abroad and demonstrating how integrated, community-based services can respond effectively to ageing societies.
Originally established in 1962 as a traditional nursing home, the organization expanded its services over time to include childcare and other forms of social support. In the late 1970s and 1980s, as both demand for eldercare and childcare increased, Kotoen began integrating these services, culminating in the introduction of its pioneering intergenerational model in 1987, which brought older persons and children together within a single facility.
The intergenerational approach makes it a recognized good practice.
The International Learning Programme (ILP) in Singapore, implemented by the National Silver Academy, aims to encourage inergenerational bonding by pairing youth with older persons in group learning settings. The programme offers practical lessons on topics like social media use, health and wellness, music and brain exercises. This programme simultaneously helps older persons to acquire new skills and youth to develop character and moral values.
Singaporean seniors aged 50+ participated alongside youth learners—typically students from primary to tertiary institutions—fostering mutual learning and social bonding.
The programme has engaged over 6,000 seniors and youths since its inception in 2011 up to 2015, enhancing seniors’ digital and creative skills, boosting their social and mental well-being, and nurturing empathy and intergenerational solidarity among young participants.
Launched in April 2011 by C3A under the National Silver Academy, the ILP matches seniors with youth “teachers” in group learning settings at schools and community venues.
By facilitating structured, reciprocal learning between seniors and youths, the ILP strengthens social cohesion, promotes lifelong learning, and reinforces intergenerational respect—offering a scalable model for inclusive community engagement.
The Intergenerational Self-Help Clubs (ISHC) in Hanoi, implemented by HelpAge Viet Nam, aims to support older persons through healthcare, social security and livelihood enhancement - empowering vulnerable community members. Older persons are both volunteers as well as beneficiaries of the initiatives. This initiative focuses on active ageing and inclusive development, with ISHC adopting a community-based, cost-controlled approach to improve the quality of life for older persons and their families, namely homecare services. Activities are structured around eight components, namely income security, medical care, lifelong learning, social care, community support, family care, resource mobilization and protecting rights and interests.
These community clubs benefit older adults, especially women and socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals, alongside the broader community—offering peer support, care, and inclusive activities.
By 2020, the programme significantly enhanced older people’s access to community care, financial services, and social protection. It strengthened local solidarity through microcredit, home care, policy outreach, and community-driven fundraising—demonstrating a sustainable and inclusive model for ageing support.
Developed by HelpAge Vietnam with support from HelpAge Korea and KOICA under project code VIE70, the model was delivered through local self-governed, volunteer-led clubs, supported by simple membership dues and community-generated funding. Clubs operated bottom-up, with intergenerational participation and volunteer support.
ISHCs exemplify locally owned, cost-efficient, and scalable care models, enabling older adults to lead community-led solutions that foster resilience, social inclusion, and intergenerational solidarity.
Through Presidential Decree No PP-405 of 25 November 2024 titled "On measures to involve active elders in the implementation of the ‘From Poverty to Prosperity’ programme”, the Government introduces a nationwide system to leverage the experience, authority, and social standing of respected elders (nuroniylar) to help families overcome poverty and strengthen social wellbeing in mahallas. Through the programme the Government aims to use the knowledge and experience of older persons to support poor families and engage active elders in strengthening healthy lifestyles and community cohesion. Elders are assigned to each household to help families overcome poverty and promote active lifestyles. Older persons involved in these efforts receive a monthly compensation equal to 50% of the minimum wage. Each mahalla receives 10 million soums annually from the Nuroniy Foundation to promote elder sports.
Poor families in Uzbekistan
It is a programme developed using the existing mahalla system. District/City Councils of People’s Deputies will regularly hear reports on implementation challenges identified by elders. The 2025 State Budget allocates 504 billion soums to the Nuroniy Foundation for programme implementation.
The practices considers older persons as agents and not recipients of care. It capitalizes on experience of older persons and respect to them. It also builds on existing social capital and existing structures through the mahallas. It also provides systematic recognition to older persons who provide their expertise through financial compensations. Thus, it also provides income security for older persons and incentives to support the programme.
Elderly community leaders to join poverty reduction efforts in Uzbekistan – News from Uzbekistan – Gazeta
Older persons in the Philippines actively contributed to community resilience before, during and after disasters. Through Older Persons' Associations (OPAs) coordinated by the Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE) and the Confederation of Older Persons' Associations of the Philippines (COPAP), older persons participated in disaster preparedness, early warning dissemination, damage and needs assessments, relief distribution, and recovery efforts. Following Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) in 2009, older people used their knowledge of local communities to identify vulnerable households, support emergency response, and facilitate equitable delivery of assistance, strengthening overall community preparedness and resilience.
All people affected by disasters
Following Typhoon Ketsana in 2009, COPAP members conducted rapid assessments, identified older persons and other vulnerable households requiring assistance, and helped coordinate relief and recovery activities. Their local knowledge enabled more accurate targeting of support and facilitated community cooperation. The approach resulted in faster identification of needs, improved distribution of relief goods, and enhanced participation of older persons in community disaster risk reduction and recovery processes.
The initiative was developed through existing networks of Older Persons' Associations that had been organized and strengthened prior to disasters.
This is a good practice because it shifts the perception of older persons from passive beneficiaries to active agents of resilience. The initiative recognizes and utilizes older people's knowledge, leadership, social networks, and disaster experience to strengthen preparedness and response. It promotes inclusion, community ownership, and intergenerational cooperation while improving the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction measures. The model is low cost, community-based, and scalable, making it relevant for countries facing both increasing disaster risks and population ageing. It also aligns with the principles of inclusive disaster risk reduction by ensuring that older persons participate in decision-making and implementation processes.
