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GENEVA: The World Health Organization’s chief of emergencies said on Monday (September 14) that we must fundamentally rethink our relationship with the elderly after the huge losses from COVID-19 in nursing homes around the world. ” they stole a generation of wisdom from us. “
In a speech on the human rights implications of the COVID-19 pandemic at the United Nations in Geneva, Dr. Mike Ryan urged countries to view care for the elderly as a “rights issue.”
Mortality rates in nursing homes have been high, partly because the elderly are more vulnerable to the disease, but also because the response has been poor, leaving some centers overwhelmed and bodies left unattended in the rooms even in some rich countries.
READ: October, November will be ‘tougher’ with more deaths from coronavirus: WHO Europe
“We need to fundamentally rethink the relationship we have with older generations and the way we care for that generation,” Ryan said. “We need to see the needs of our older generation as a matter of rights: the right to be cared for, the right to social contact,” he said.
Mortality rates in nursing homes have been high, accounting for up to 80 percent of COVID deaths in some high-income countries, Ryan said, without naming them.
In the same speech, Ryan also called for better protection for prisoners, migrants and health workers.
“Access to healthcare in COVID-19 has not been fair,” he said. “It has been influenced by gender, wealth, age, social class, legal status, ethnicity and so many other things.”
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