The Committee on Population, Resources and Environment of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held a thematic consultation on Oct 20.

CPPCC National Committee members and officials from relevant government departments discussed optimizing basic elderly care services and improving care for seniors with functional and cognitive impairments at the meeting. Shen Yueyue and Wang Guangqian, vice-chairpersons of the CPPCC National Committee, attended the meeting.

The discussion focused on the 2035 goal of ensuring that all seniors have access to basic elderly care services and establishing a mature system for such services suited to China's conditions, as well as on tasks for actively responding to population aging during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).

The participants agreed that efforts should focus on the care system for elderly people with functional and cognitive impairments, a key difficulty in basic service provision, and called for deeper research and consultation to better meet their needs and improve their health and well-being.

They stressed the need to summarize and promote local experience in disability prevention and early intervention to ease the strain on families.

They also called for implementing the guiding principles of the national health meeting, advancing integrated medical and elderly care and hospice services, and improving the quality of care across the life cycle.

They urged CPPCC members to strengthen care and assistance for elderly people with functional and cognitive impairments and other vulnerable seniors through their public service activities, contributing to a better quality of life for the elderly and the advancement of the Healthy China initiative.

Officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the National Health Commission and the National Healthcare Security Administration gave briefings and exchanged views with experts and CPPCC members.

Che Jun, chairperson of the Committee on Population, Resources and Environment of the CPPCC National Committee, presided over the meeting.