Comparison of Community Care Policies through the WHO Guiding Principles: Pilot projects in Korea and policies in Japan and Sweden

Abstract

This study compared the community care policies of Korea, Japan, and Sweden based on the WHO global strategy. Each country's community care policy was rated as appropriate, insufficient, or absent depending on the degree of its conformity to the “Guiding Principles for the Decade of Healthy Ageing.” In addition, descriptions of related contents were provided. Our analysis found that the policy contents of “Interconnected and indivisible”, “Inclusive”, “Multistakeholder partnerships”, “Leaving no one behind”, “Equity”, “Commitment”, and “Do no harm” were insufficient to support community-based integrated care. Regarding the strategy of “Intergenerational solidarity”, there was no relevant policy content. The directions for improvement are as follows: “Reinforcement of local health”, “Expansion of selective targets for the vulnerable”, “Clarification of scope of work”, “Expansion of 24-hour or non-face-to-face operation”, “Prevention of blind spots for benefits”, “Preparation of generational exchange”, “Preparation of grounding legislation”, and “Securing stable financial resources.” This study was intended to identify improvement directions for the Community Integrated Care Leading Project and help it become more broadly applied in the future.