Elder Abandonment in Mexico: Unattended public health problem

Abstract

Aging is occurring at a speed higher than that experienced historically by the developed countries. Older population will grow three times faster than the growth rate of the total population. The largest increases will happen in countries that do not now show the highest percentages of people over the age of 60, as in the case of Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. However, in countries like Honduras and Paraguay this population grows at higher rates with respect to other countries. Public health in Mexico and Latin America faces the challenge of reforming health systems in a way that they can face a double burden of disease, represented by the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and their complications, in addition to the persistence of transferable infectious diseases and those associated with nutritional problems. For this reason, the perception of abandonment of the older adults, it is appropriate to define some concepts implicit in the sociodemographic characteristics that are reflected in the statistics of each Latin American country and especially in Mexico, because their population pyramid is increasing with this age-specific disease, generating that due to multiple economic and physical consequences, among others, abandonment becomes a consequence frequently neglected.