The international research project "Integrated Care for Older Adults Living in Urban Areas – Assessing Health and Social Care Needs" started in mid-June with a digital kick-off event. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the National University of Singapore, and Technische Universität Berlin want to research the effects of demographic change and urbanization on health care in the project. The research project will be funded within the framework of the Partnership Berlin/Singapore of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA).

At the event, the research teams led by Prof. Dr. Wolfram Herrmann from the Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine at Charité and Prof. Angelique Chan from the Centre for Ageing Research & Education at the National University of Singapore presented the healthcare systems of their cities. They discussed the challenges of providing medical and nursing care for people with chronic old-age diseases in major cities. Despite the different healthcare systems and cultures, parallels between Germany and Singapore became apparent. For example, the number and duration of hospital stays are quite high in both countries.

The focus of the joint research will be to survey the medical and social needs of the elderly in major cities. An already tried and tested method from Singapore will be adapted and applied to Berlin. The data can subsequently form the basis for new care concepts in which different health care sectors cooperate and which can ensure citizen-centered care for the elderly.

The research project is one of the five funded projects, dealing with topics of “Global Health” and “Health Innovation” within the framework of the BUA Berlin/Singapore partnership. In addition to healthcare of the future, research will include digital health technologies and medical microrobots. The funding amounts to a total of 134,000 euros until March 2022.