KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is fast becoming an ageing nation, even by global standards.
Japanese ambassador Katsuhiko Takahashi said, according to the World Bank's estimates, Malaysia became an ageing society (with seven per cent of its population aged 65 years and over) in 2020.
Malaysia, he said, will be an aged society in 2044 (with 14 per cent of its population aged 65 and over), and a super-aged society in 2056 (with 20 per cent of its population aged 65 and over).
Malaysia's increase in the ageing rate, he noted, was very fast, even by global standards.
"As you know, Japan is the world's fastest ageing country, having become an ageing society in 1970, aged society in 1994, and super-aged society in 2007.
"Now more than 28 per cent of the population is aged 65 and over in Japan," Takahashi said when presenting the 2021 Healthy Aging Prize for Asian Innovation (HAPI) to the Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing) at his official residence in Jalan Langgak Golf.
MyAgeing was awarded with the 2021 Special Prize for Covid-19 Response for its contribution in helping the elderly during the pandemic.
The institute had innovated self-contained robots for contactless food deliveries and the monitor of temperature-taking of elderly people at its facility at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang and selected aged homes.
MyAgeing is the national institute responsible for research on ageing and older persons based at UPM.
Present to receive the award was MyAgeing director Prof Dr Siti Anom Ahmad.
Takahashi said many aspects of Japan's experience and efforts in handling issues of ageing should be shared with other countries that would face similar challenges in the future.
"Malaysia is one of them. I hope that the institute will generate more innovations, develop initiatives and innovative ideas to enrich the lives and contribute to the welfare of the elderly in Malaysia.
"This can be done by making use of Japan's knowledge in this field," Takahashi said.
He said HAPI was an award established in 2020 with the aim of sharing knowledge and encouraging practical applications of innovative initiatives.
These included programmes, services, products and policies that will help solve the various challenges facing aging societies.
The award, he added, was part of the Japanese government's Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative (AHWIN) and co-managed by the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (ERIA) and the Japan Centre for International Exchange (JCIE).
A wide range of innovative initiatives from countries and regions in East and Southeast Asia was submitted to three categories.
They were Technology and Innovation, Community Based Initiatives, and Self-Reliance.
"Last year, the Special Award for the 'Covid-19 Response' was created to recognise innovative responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"After a rigorous evaluation, 10 organisations were selected as winners," Takahashi said.
Takahashi added that Malaysia and Japan were celebrating their 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year, and the 40th anniversary of the 'Look East Policy'.
"I hope that our relations will become even stronger towards the future as we work together to combat the challenges of an ageing society together," said Takahashi.
Meanwhile, Siti Anom credited her team of staff and students for making their project a success.
She said the project was named as the 'Capacity Building for Caregivers and Older Persons in Elderly Living Institutions for Contactless Deliveries using Indoor Autonomous Platform'.
"This project was funded by the Malaysia One Health Universiti Network (MyOHUN) under the USAID allocation.
"It supported the response of the social care sector in preventing and mitigating the negative impact of Covid-19 on institutionalized living older persons in Malaysia.
"We developed an autonomous platform to provide a contactless alternative to regular deliveries in institutional living, a comprehensive guideline and instructional material, and conducted on-site training and workshops for contactless deliveries to strengthen the capacity of the aged care operators and caregivers in the management of older persons," she said.
Siti Anom added that the autonomous platform was capable of sensing its environment and operating without the human involvement.
"It corresponds with the Covid-19's pandemic that advises us to practice physical distancing and minimise direct physical contact.
"Hence, the use of this platform is very appropriate to achieve these measures through contactless deliveries.
"The autonomous platform helps reduce the risk of person-to-person infection via the deliveries of meal boxes and daily essentials," she said.
Siti Anom cited how the unmanned navigated platform used deep-learning and light detection and ranging (Lidar) remote sensing technology to perform health screening like temperature measurement of humans.