China's population aged 65 years and above was 190 million, according to the results of the seventh national census released in 2021. As China is faced with an aging society, elder care has inevitably become a major issue.

In recent years, China has developed a "9073" pension pattern, which means about 90 percent of the elderly population receive home-based care, 7 percent get community-based care, and 3 percent have elder care in nursing institutions. In other words, the majority of China's elderly people depend on home and community-based care services.

However, there are still challenges as their aging continues and more hazard and convenience factors arise due to the lack of alarm devices and other safety facilities in homes and communities.

To address these problems, the elderly-adaptive renovation initiative has been launched. The Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission and seven other central government departments issued a guideline on accelerating renovation work for the elderly in July 2020 in a bid to improve senior residents' livelihoods and their home-based care services.

Wang Yongqing, vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, led a team to survey the progress in improving accessibility for the elderly in Hunan and Zhejiang provinces from Sept 13 to 16 and Sept 18 to 21 respectively.Such survey trips help draw joint efforts from various parties to make society more elderly-friendly.

Zhejiang was one of the pioneers in elderly-adaptive renovation. The province's renovation projects focused on the safety and health of elderly people.

Vice-governor Wang Wenxu said the province has included the task on their list of projects benefiting people's livelihoods since 2020, and issued technical guidelines for local residential communities to help them renovate the elder people's homes.

More than 40,400 households have been renovated across the province to improve the ability of the elderly to take care of themselves and their quality of life.

Xiangtan city of Hunan has rolled out policies to support elevator installation in old residential buildings, including government subsidies.

According to the provincial civil affairs department, Hunan carried out its three-year elevator installation action plan with the joint efforts of various parties, including the governments, relevant governmental agencies, communities and property owners.

Most cities in the province already have incentive policies and have formed a long-term mechanism for the installation, operation and maintenance of elevators.

To address the difficulties and challenges in promoting renovation projects for the elderly, Dai Junliang, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and former vice-minister of civil affairs, suggested standardizing the products and services involved in such renovation projects.

Lyu Zhongmei, resident vice-chairperson of the Committee on Social and Legal Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee, said it's necessary to launch a unified standard system to ensure the quantity and quality of elderly-adaptive renovation projects.

Wang Ercheng, vice-chairman of the Committee on Social and Legal Affairs, called for coordination between the government, enterprises and families to improve relevant laws and regulations, and for policies and better project supervision.

CPPCC National Committee member Jiang Wei, former vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, suggested that the government should offer financial support to such projects and guide social capital to take part through preferential policies.

He also stressed cooperation between communities and enterprises or social organizations, which would benefit both parties.

Li Jinghui, board chairman of a Zhejiang-based enterprise specializing in elderly care and renovation projects for the elderly, said professional assessment of the elderly's capabilities and their living environments is a must for the personalized renovation of their homes.

Li's suggestion was echoed by Luo Yingfeng, a renovation designer of a care center for the elderly, in Xiangtan. Luo said the renovation work should be carried out by professionals, since it is far beyond just fitting up a house and must be sure to make their life safer and more convenient and comfortable.

Luo also attached importance to service improvement for installing and upgrading elderly-friendly facilities in homes and communities.

In the opinion of Liu Jianli, head of a nursing home in Haishu district, Ningbo city of Zhejiang, home-based elder care services play an important role in making the aged group's lives more comfortable.

Liu noted that there was a severe shortage of skilled nursing workers and managerial personnel with knowledge of elderly care.

Cheng Ping, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and former official with the Ministry of Transport, called for vocational education and professional training to improve the services in the elder care industry.

Huang Shuxian, vice-chairman of the Committee on Social and Legal Affairs and former minister of civil affairs, highlighted the grading of elder nursing skills and increasing practitioners' income to pool more human resources into the sector.

Fei Wei, a CPPCC National Committee member, said the government, nursing service providers, vocational colleges and schools, and social forces should make joint efforts to make the practitioners more skilled and professional.

As the "silver economy" grows and more policies are rolled out, the elder care sector has drawn more attention and input from many other industries. Assistive devices for the elderly have become a heated topic.

"Although China's elder care product manufacturing has begun to take shape, there are still many problems in the market," said Wang Yilei, chairman of Zhejiang-based Cosmos Group, adding that China has lagged behind developed countries in elder care product research and development.

Qiao Chuanxiu, former chairman of the CPPCC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, said it's important and urgent to raise the public awareness of senior-friendly renovation projects.

Huang Haotao, a CPPCC National Committee member and former vice-president of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, suggested that government departments, industry associations, elder care service providers and the aged people's families should supervise such projects.

Jiang Ping, former deputy secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group of the CPPCC Shanghai Municipal Committee, said various government departments and market entities should improve elder care services through innovation.