Digital Health Asia 2025 Interview Series: Dignity in ageing – how digital health can transform senior care across Asia
According to UN data, Hong Kong is on track to become one of the world’s most aged populations, with over 40% of residents projected to be aged 65 or older by 2050. This places it alongside other rapidly aging societies like Japan and South Korea. Coupled with the growing shortage of healthcare providers, this rapid demographic shift poses a significant challenge to the region’s health systems.
With the Asia-Pacific region at the forefront of this demographic transformation, Professor Juhee Cho, a leading behavioural scientist and clinical epidemiologist, is leading the charge to transform senior care. A staunch believer in the transformative power of digital health, she is driving the search for practical, real-world solutions that will empower individuals as they age.
Professor Cho, Chair of the Department of Clinical Research Design and Evaluation at the Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, will share her insights at Digital Health Asia 2025, which runs from 8-10 September. This event, organised by Times Higher Education (THE) in partnership with City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) and CityUHK’s Institute of Digital Medicine, is a timely platform for tackling urgent challenges facing the healthcare sector. This summit, taking place at CityUHK, is the first time THE’s Digital Health series has been held in Asia.
Professor Cho contends that digital health is the most powerful tool available for addressing the healthcare burden associated with longer life expectancies. She believes it will facilitate a fundamental shift from hospital-centric care to proactive, home-based health management.
“Digital health allows us to make the home a place of care, where individuals can live as they wish, from meeting friends to simply enjoying meals,” says Professor Cho, explaining how her work on psycho-oncology, which has increasingly focused on senior cancer patients, has expanded into research on home-based care, nutrition and overall well-being.
Her vision is centred on leveraging connected health and real-time monitoring. For example, patients’ health can be observed through wearable devices, mobile apps and ambient sensors from the comfort of home. This data helps health workers manage symptoms and predict risks, generating a “network of caregivers” for seniors living alone. This level of care can provide timely interventions and help prevent serious problems such as falls.
Beyond technology, Professor Cho highlights the crucial role that policy and global collaboration play. She advocates for governments to redirect healthcare budgets to accommodate digital health solutions and for health reimbursement policies to evolve and support innovation.
“If we can change health reimbursement policies, technologies like ambient sensors can be classified as medical devices and then integrated into care systems. Once policy and implementation align, industry will follow,” she says.
Ageing is a universal challenge that demands a global response, Professor Cho explains, stressing the importance of international collaboration for sharing insights, avoiding repeating mistakes, and adapting solutions to diverse urban environments. “I hope Digital Health Asia at CityUHK will foster knowledge sharing and cross-cultural exchange and that innovations in digital health can extend beyond high-tech cities to benefit under-resourced communities,” she concludes.
Please visit the thematic website for more information about DHA 2025.
