Today, Friday, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, announced a strategy to protect seniors (personas adultas mayores in Spanish) against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in order to avoid contagion, abandonment and death.
Juan Luis Bermúdez, Minister of Human Development and Social Inclusion and Executive President of IMAS explained at the mid-day press briefing that special attention must be paid to seniors, that account for almost one million people.
By the numbers, there 913,509 people over the age of 60, where 76% are between the ages of 60 and 79, and 24% are over 80.
“This strategy implements actions that are aimed at informing, educating, caring for and protecting our seniors from the risks of COVID-19. Primary care teams and technicians from other institutions add to the capabilities that allow us to have the digital file, so that we can identify those in greatest need, in order to serve them according to the provisions of institutional protocols and to protect them from the risk of loneliness, abandonment, contagion and death,” he explained.
The strategy has the support of the National Council of the Elderly (Conapam), as well as the Ministry of Health, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is training the institutional staff and provides direct support to the most vulnerable families.
The president of the IMAS also said that this strategy will focus on 3 axes:
- An information and risk campaign on COVID-19 for seniors.
- From the Ebais (local clinics) they will carry out an approach from detection to follow-up of people with higher risk factors.
- Approach through 3 groups: those over 80 years of age, living alone, with associated diseases; those over 60 years of age with a history of chronic diseases; and finally, those over 60 years of age without risk factors.
“With these groups, we will have a differentiated strategy to provide them with follow-up as is appropriate for seniors,throughout the country,” Bermúdez said, before indicating that the National Emergency Commission (CNE) will also collaborate in this through the Municipal Emergency Committees throughout the country.
Madriz said that “the Costa Rican Government, as a solidary State, has disposed of a joint work during the last few weeks that allows to generate a comprehensive approach and precision health partner to the older population”.
