World Health Organization Publication : Year 2003 ; Issue 9241562498 - Mexico: Case-Study ; Mexico

By Felicia Knaul

Book Id: WPLBN0000176480
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.1 MB
Reproduction Date: 2005

Title:	World Health Organization Publication : Year 2003 ; Issue 9241562498 - Mexico: Case-Study ; Mexico
Author:	Felicia Knaul
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Health., Public health, Wellness programs
Collections:	Medical Library Collection, World Health Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	World Health Organization


Citation APA MLA Chicago Knaul, B. F. (n.d.). World Health Organization Publication : Year 2003 ; Issue 9241562498 - Mexico. Retrieved from https://self.gutenberg.org/

Description
Medical Reference Publication

Excerpt
1.1 Preamble As in many other developing countries, Mexico is experiencing important demographic, epidemiological, and social transitions that should guide the formation of policy in a number of areas including long-term care. From an institutional perspective, the country and the Government are open to renewal. The issues surrounding long-term care are being incorporated into the programmes and reforms that are being launched in the areas of health, social security, gender planning and the social system, but so far with limited impact. The demographic transition, and particularly the reduction in the fertility rate and increases in life expectancy, have lead to the growth of the proportion of elderly people in the population. In 2000, only about 5% of the population was aged 65 years or older, while by 2050 the figure will be close to 20%. In the year 2020, Mexico will have a population structure similar to the post-industrial world today, with the disadvantage that this process of profound change will have occured in a shorter period – placing particularly profound demands upon society and institutions. As part of the epidemiological transition, the profile of disease has changed and the burden of disease has shifted towards chronic and degenerative illness. Much of this change is related to population ageing. Providing adequate and appropriate care for the elderly is one of the major challenges for health services, since this age group utilizes health services much more frequently than the rest of the population and the services they use tend to be more costly. From the perspective of long-term care requirements in the future, these phenomena should be highlighted – as the ageing of the Mexican population and the emergence of new health problems will generate increased demands for care in the near future and will have an impact on large groups of the population. These changing conditions will require a prompt response from the health system in the future, that should be designed in the present. Mexico finds itself at an important junction in terms of reformulating policy for the challenges of the future and preparing itself for the middle of the century when approximately one in five Mexicans will be aged 65 or over.

Table of Contents
NA