The Inter-American Development Bank, French Development Agency, European Union through its EUROsociAL+ programme, and Central American Social Integration Secretariat are organizing two webinars in the Panorama of Aging and Long-term Care on the steps that are being taken in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Europe to ensure the right to care for dependent elderly persons. In the current situation, with the COVID-19 virus spreading worldwide, long-term care services for dependent persons warrant special attention.
Persons who are functionally dependent constitute the group that is most vulnerable to the pandemic, and in many nursing homes and day centers for the elderly have become the nucleus for spread of the disease, affecting both those who live in or use the facilities as well as those who work there. In addition, in the current situation, caring for older and disabled adults in these facilities is an even more essential service because it eases the burden on the health system that is at its saturation point due to the emergency. At the same time care-givers, mostly women, are in the first line of this emergency. To counter the pandemic, it is important to continue supporting this group of people, both by providing health care and by helping them with their physical and emotional well-being.
The webinar, entitled “Mitigation of COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes and day centers”, was held on April 30, 2020 at 10:00 am EST (Washington, DC time) . Lourdes Bermejo, Vice President of the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology will share the European experience. The discussion will be enriched as well by the participation of institutional representatives from the sector in other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe.
