ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a general overview of some of the significant issues and challenges related to the elderly in Malaysia by focusing on the implications for health care and other services related to older people's well-being, as well as on the implications for the financial resources available to them. The Ministry of Welfare provides incentives to instil the Caring Society concept among Malaysians supporting the elderly living in their own homes, through forms of financial support. The Eighth Malaysia Plan emphasized the care and social dimensions in its reinforcement of the need for family support: with improvements in life expectancy and the increasing trend towards nuclear families, steps were taken to ensure that caring for older persons remained with the family. Having established the broad context in terms of demographic developments and national policy responses, the chapter considers a number of specific problems and policy solutions. The first considers health and health care; and second considers social care and income.
