Americas Face Challenge of Aging Populations, PAHO Report Says

Washington, September 23, 2002 (PAHO) - With people in the Americas living longer and having fewer children, countries in the region will have to be ready to meet a new health challenge -- aging, according to a new report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Medical advances and preventive health measures have meant significant progress against communicable diseases, once the main health threat in many countries in the region, PAHO says in its quadrennial report, "Health in the Americas, 2002." For example, measles has been almost wiped out in the region. But at the same time, the number of people with chronic and degenerative conditions -- health problems more often seen in older people -- has gone up.

Mortality rates from communicable disease in children under a year old were cut in half over the last 50 years, PAHO says. A decline in fertility rates - from 3.1 to 2.4 children per woman -- followed. This coincided with the aging of the general population. The result is that today people over age 85 make up the fastest growing population in the Americas, increasing at a rate of 3 to 5 percent per year in some countries, PAHO says. The population over 65 years of age is growing at a rate of about 2 percent per year. (Overall population in the region is growing at a rate of 1.3 percent annually.)

Not only are more people old now, but more will get older. Life expectancy at birth has risen an average of six years. At the start of the 21st century, the average life expectancy in the region is up to 72.4 years.

With more elderly people living longer, chronic diseases and external causes have edged out communicable diseases as the main causes of death in the region. They now account for about two-thirds of all deaths. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, injuries and physical disability are more prominent health problems, PAHO says. Endocrine problems such as diabetes are also showing up more often.

Caring for an older population will mean more than a shift in the kinds of health problems being treated. Another critical component is being sure they get health care in the first place. Older adults, along with adolescents and people living in isolated areas, are more likely to lack permanent access to the health care, according to PAHO.

Infectious disease and parasites are still important threats to health, especially to children's health, for some countries and groups of people in the region, the PAHO report says. Among other groups, primarily in more developed areas, chronic and degenerative diseases overshadow these problems.

Inequalities in people's risk of getting sick and dying corresponds to inequalities in the distribution of resources, particularly at the national level. Health care policies in the region will need to address both sets of concerns.

Finally, preventive health is important for everyone in the Americas to limit risks from factors that affect everyone, such as environmental degradation; tobacco use; lack of physical exercise; violence; mental health problems; poor diet; motor vehicle accidents and drug abuse, the report says.

The new report, Health in the Americas, is published every four years and presents a regional analysis of the health situation and trends as well as individual analyses for each of the countries and territories in the Americas.

PAHO, which also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, was established in 1902 and is celebrating 100 years of work with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and raise the living standards of their peoples.

To obtain more information on Health In The Americas, 2002 please follow this link.

For more information, please contact: Daniel Epstein, Office of Public Information, (202) 974-3459, e-mail: epsteind@paho.org.