[ad_1]
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing “incalculable fear and suffering” to older people around the world who are dying at a higher rate, and especially to people older than 80 years, whose mortality rate is five times higher. The global average.
The UN chief said that beyond the health risks, “the pandemic is putting older people at greater risk of poverty,” with an especially devastating impact on the elderly in developing countries.
Guterres released a 16-page policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on older people with several key messages, most importantly that “no person, young or old, is expendable” and “older people have the same rights to life and health than everyone else. “
The secretary-general, who celebrated his 71st birthday on Thursday, said: “As an older person, with the responsibility of an even older mother, I am deeply concerned about the pandemic on a personal level and its effects on our communities and societies.” “
He called for better social support and “smarter efforts” to use digital technology to reach older people who may face great suffering due to isolation and restrictions on their movements.
Guterres said that all social, economic and humanitarian responses to the pandemic must take into account the needs of older people, noting that the majority are women who are more likely to enter their final years in poverty, without access to poverty. medical attention.
He also said that older people should not be treated as “invisible or powerless”, noting that many are working and fully committed to family life, teaching, learning and caring for others.
“To overcome this pandemic together, we need an increase in global and national solidarity and the contributions of all members of society, including older people,” Guterres said in a video message accompanying the policy brief that also emphasized the importance of building the “age”. “friendly societies”.
The report warns that not only those over the age of 80 die at a rate five times greater than the average for the new coronavirus, but “an estimated 66% of people age 70 and older have at least one underlying condition , which exposes them to a greater risk of suffering a serious impact from COVID -19 “.
According to the report, more than 95% of COVID-19 deaths in Europe have been people 60 years of age or older. In the United States, 80% of deaths are among adults 65 and older, he said, and in China, about 80% of deaths occurred among adults 60 and older.
The report warned that “the death rate for older people could go even higher” as COVID-19 spreads to developing countries, “probably overwhelming health and social protection systems.”
Amid the pandemic, according to the UN report, overloaded hospitals and medical facilities face difficult decisions about the use of scarce resources.
Human rights experts have noted with concern that decisions about the use of these resources, including ventilators, “in some cases have been made based on age or general assumptions about the impact of a particular diagnosis, such as dementia , in general health, life expectancy or chances of survival, “the report said.
“Less visible but no less troubling,” he said, “are the broader effects: health care denied for non-COVID-19 related conditions; neglect and abuse in institutions and care facilities; increased poverty and unemployment; the dramatic impact on the well -bee and mental health, and the trauma of stigma and discrimination. “
[ad_2]
