CD49/8 - Plano de Ação para a Saúde dos Idosos, Incluindo o Envelhecimento Ativo e Saudável (2009)

Introduction 

1. Healthy independent older persons contribute to the welfare of their household and community, and to describe them as passive recipients of social or health services is to perpetuate a myth. Today, however, the number of older persons is increasing exponentially in socioeconomic situations that are both complex and uncertain, and only timely interventions will make it possible to increase the contributions of this group to social development and keep it from turning into a crisis for the health and social security structure of the Americas. 

2. In the next 40 years, the Region’s demographic situation will offer a window of opportunity in which the economically active sector will be growing faster than the dependent sectors. Only through adequate social and health investment will it be possible to achieve healthy and active longevity resulting in a lower economic burden in the future...