PAHO study says Caribbean seniors lack health care

Saturday, November 8, 2003

WASHINGTON, USA: A new study drafted by experts of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) shows that most people over 60 years of age in the Caribbean lack access to the health care they need.

Data included in the report on Health, Well-being and Aging: Health Among Adults in Latin America and the Caribbean, due to be presented to an intergovernmental meeting on aging in Chile on Nov. 19, reveal that aging in the region is occurring at an unprecedented pace combined with a sharp increase in the demand for health care.

And that growing demand represents a severe problem, especially for the region's poorer nations. The latter suffer from increasing poverty and an increase in social and economic inequality - and that, in turn, has result in less access to health resources and care.

Thus, for example, the risk of dying of infectious diseases (once the main cause of death) fell by 16 percent for men and by 19 percent among women since the early 1980s. At the same time, life expectancy grew from 73 to 76 years. Nevertheless, older adults feel they are in ill health.

The people who reached 60 years of age after the year 2000 are the ones who benefited from the progress in medical technology introduced after World War II. That generation's growing life expectancy resulted not just from lifestyle improvements, but also mainly from the successful reduction in the exposure to infectious diseases and better health care making a quicker recovery possible.

That is why, now that many public health battles have been won, the developed nations have an advantage when it comes to the health care of their older adults because of higher living standards.

According to Dr. Martha Pelaez, regional advisor on health aging at PAHO and one of the authors of the study, "The purpose of this document is to give countries information on the situation of older adults and clarify that the health of this population group will be one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st Century."

This new look at the health of older adults shows that the highest risk of death from external causes among older adults of both sexes comes from traffic accidents, with a rate of 75 per 100,000 in men and 25 per 100,000 in women. Suicide is also six times more frequent in older men, with a rate of 17 per 100,000, than in older women, with a rate of 3 per 100,000. 

The prevalence of depression among older adults ranges from 8 to 15 percent, and 61 percent of older adults aged 60 to 69 are overweight, with half of those qualifying as obese, according to the study. About 72 percent of people in this age group do not exercise, and one in three is a smoker, the study found.

One of the goals of the study is to increase the availability of basic data on health and aging, with the aim of improving the health of older adults through special health promotion programs designed specifically for them. Another aim is to continue seeking equitable access to health services for older adults.

PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world's oldest public health organization. PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and the quality of life of its people. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO). 

PAHO Member States today include all 35 countries in the Americas. France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are Participating States. Portugal and Spain are Observer States, and Puerto Rico is an Associate Member.

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