The health ministry reports that there are now over 350,000 people in Taiwan with dementia. The country is projected to become a super-aged society by 2025, and health officials have been building up a system to care for the growing number of elderly people.
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00:00As Taiwan moves towards becoming a super-aged society, its population of people with dementia is expected to increase.
00:06According to the country's health ministry, Taiwan is already home to around
00:10350,000 people with dementia. They estimate that by 2031, that number will surpass
00:16470,000 people. Then, by 2041, it will pass
00:20680,000. That averages out to two new cases per hour every day between now and then. It's a problem that particularly affects women.
00:30To tackle the issue, the health ministry has created thousands of care centers and
00:44trained over half a million volunteers to help look after the country's growing number of dementia patients.
00:49It also introduced community puppetry programs to help slow cognitive decline.
00:5578-year-old Chou Hsing-Rong joined one such troupe six months ago.
00:58He has mild dementia and puppetry seems to help with his symptoms. It's become something he looks forward to every day.
01:12While puppetry has helped Chou,
01:14he's just one success story in what is proving to be a growing challenge for Taiwan. As
01:19the country creeps towards becoming a super-aged society, one where over 20% of the population is aged 65 or older,
01:25they'll have to continue to get creative about tackling dementia, either by providing better care, better awareness, or better puppets.
01:33Patrick Chen and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.