Director National Institute of Geriatric Medicine, México City, Mexico.
Aging Institute Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia.
Age Ageing. 2022 May 1;51(5). doi: 10.1093/ageing/afac017.
Latin American countries (LAC), with their culturally and ethnically diverse populations, form a region that is difficult to define and to understand. The region's health systems are deeply fragmented, which poses great challenges to overall equity levels in health. This is also one of the fastest ageing regions in the world, with increasing demands as well for acute and long-term care (LTC). Demographic and epidemiological transitions across the region are heterogeneous. In this context, health systems are in general, largely unprepared to face the challenge of promoting healthy ageing. This unpreparedness has been magnified by the Coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic. Here, we analyse the burden of disease in the older population and identify priorities to improve the care and quality of life for people living in LAC. Besides an adequately prepared workforce, we must remediate disparities and inequities; develop and implement integrated care; achieve patient-centred care and further develop palliative and end-of-life care; simultaneously, we must develop the structure and financing of LTC services and strengthen the role of public health making healthy ageing an essential component.
拉丁美洲国家（LAC）拥有文化和种族多样化的人口，形成了一个难以定义和理解的地区。该地区的卫生系统高度分散，这对整体健康公平水平构成了巨大挑战。这也是世界上老龄化速度最快的地区之一，对急性和长期护理（LTC）的需求也在不断增加。该地区的人口和流行病学转变具有异质性。在这种情况下，卫生系统总体上在很大程度上没有准备好迎接促进健康老龄化的挑战。这种毫无准备因 2019 年冠状病毒病大流行而加剧。在这里，我们分析了老年人群的疾病负担，并确定了改善生活在 LAC 的人们的护理和生活质量的优先事项。除了有足够准备的劳动力外，我们还必须解决差距和不平等问题；制定和实施综合护理；实现以患者为中心的护理，并进一步发展姑息治疗和临终关怀；同时，我们必须发展长期护理服务的结构和融资，并加强公共卫生的作用，使健康老龄化成为一个重要组成部分。
