The acceleration of population aging puts great pressure on the society in the field of medical care.
The health needs of the huge elderly population have significant pain points, and the risks of high-frequency drug use scenarios need to be solved urgently.
The digital solution quickly builds an “age-friendly” drug safety infrastructure in a cost-effective and feasible way, effectively improving the safety and accessibility of drug services for the elderly.
Population aging is an irreversible global trend. By 2050, people over the age of 65 are expected to account for one-sixth of the global population. As we age, supportive environments play a key role in helping older adults maintain activity levels and independence. On the International Day of Older Persons 2023, the United Nations calls for “more inclusive age-friendly societies and a more resilient world for all.”
By the end of 2023, China’s population aged 60 or above reached 297 million, accounting for 21.1 percent of the total population. According to projections by the UN Population Office, this proportion will continue to rise, reaching 35% by mid-century, with the elderly population peaking at 484 million and remaining there until the end of the century. At the same time, the survey shows that the prevalence rate of chronic diseases among people over 60 years old in China is more than 75%, and the number of disabled and semi-disabled elderly people in the country has exceeded 44 million. The poor quality of life of the elderly will not only affect the economic benefits of the family, but also form a huge burden on the entire medical insurance system, which will affect the long-term economic development.
With the acceleration of aging, the demand for health services for chronic and sub-health groups has increased significantly, highlighting the importance of promoting health, preventing and treating disease throughout the life course. The problem of poor medication compliance is widespread in the elderly population, with an incidence of more than 50%, and more than 60% of the elderly have vision problems. Many elderly patients take several medications every day to manage chronic diseases. The 2022 China Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Annual report disclosed that the proportion of people over 65 years old in adverse drug reaction events throughout the year reached 32.3%, much higher than other age groups. In recent years, because the font of the drug instructions is small and the amount of information is too large, the elderly can not see clearly and can not understand the drug instructions, and can not use drugs correctly, thus affecting the safety of drugs is particularly prominent. The size of the elderly population is increasing, so that they can see clearly and understand the instructions has become a key factor affecting the health rights and interests of the elderly.
At the same time, the COVID-19 epidemic has accelerated the transformation of the elderly using smartphones to seek medical treatment and medicine online. According to the 51st Statistical Report on the Development of the Internet in China, the number of elderly Internet users aged 60 and above in China reached 153 million, with a penetration rate of more than 50%. It is becoming possible to solve high frequency medication scenarios for the elderly through digital and innovative solutions. So, how to build an “elderly friendly” drug safety infrastructure?
1. The top-level design of the government is gradually clear
In response to this problem, local governments have put forward some prototype solutions as early as 2020. For example, in June 2020, the Shaanxi Provincial Drug Administration issued opinions to encourage drug manufacturers in the province to print two-dimensional code of instructions on drug packaging labels, and patients can scan the code to obtain the electronic manual, and adjust the size of the text of the manual according to their needs. In June 2023, China officially promulgated the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Construction of a Barrier-free Environment, requiring “drug manufacturers and operators to provide labels and instructions in barrier-free format versions such as voice, large characters, Braille and electronic”, which was officially implemented on September 1. In October of the same year, the State Food and Drug Administration issued the Pilot Work Plan for the Reform of Drug Instructions for Aging and Accessibility, and carried out pilot projects in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong, Shaanxi and other provinces.
2. The pharmaceutical industry still faces challenges
Insight into the needs of the elderly and other patients with visual impairment for safe drug use, drug manufacturers have also made key information such as drug usage, dosage, indications, adverse reactions, etc. to increase the size, bold, underline and other ways to highlight to help solve the relevant pain points of the elderly. There are also many pharmacies that set up a special medicine service desk, providing magnifying glasses or professional pharmacists to help the elderly understand the use of medicines.
However, the change of paper drug instructions involves the corresponding changes in the drug production line, such as the paper size of the instructions, the folding method, and the size of the pill box. The implementation cost of the adjustment font is very large, the cycle is long, and it cannot cover the drugs already circulating on the market. In this situation, enterprises are in urgent need of a cost-effective solution with controllable costs.
3. Digital technology promises efficient solutions
As the “ID card” of drugs, the traceability code assigns a unique code to each box of drugs. At present, more than 70% of the medicine boxes in circulation in China already have this “ID card”. Based on this technical foundation, drug manufacturers can easily upload electronic instructions and quickly achieve barrier-free services that accurately correspond to each box of drugs without increasing any production costs. By using artificial intelligence and natural language recognition technology to achieve accurate recognition of drug instructions and dynamic voice broadcasting, and fully supporting the elderly to clearly and conveniently “hear” the instructions on their mobile phones, it has become the first step to ensure the safe use of drugs for the elderly.
For example, the drug description aging transformation project initiated by Ali Health and Alibaba Public welfare has added new functions to nearly 34,000 medicine boxes approved by Sinpo. As long as you open Taobao or Alipay to scan the traceability code on the drug box and click “Drug description”, you can not only find the “large” drug description, such as usage and dosage, indications, adverse reactions, contraindications and other information at a glance; It can also experience the voice broadcasting function, so that the drug instructions can “see and listen”, and effectively solve the drug safety problems caused by the elderly can not see clearly and can not understand the instructions.
Based on the establishment of a more friendly and safe social environment for the elderly, in the new starting point of the intelligent era, more innovative enterprises will make good use of the breakthrough development of digital artificial intelligence technology, so that the elderly can enjoy the inclusive and convenient brought by the digital economy era, so that “digital temperature, better society”.