Old age is the priority of the Cuban authorities

On December 14, 1990, at the General Assembly of the United Nations, it was decided to consider on October 1 an international day of the elderly. At first this holiday was celebrated only in European countries. In the late 1990s, he appeared in the United States of America and in other countries. For Cuba, this holiday is special. Cubans are proud of success in improving the quality and expectancy of life. Today, Cuban doctors have reached unprecedented heights in the fight against various diseases from such a kind of alien ailment as hepatitis and to such age diseases as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s diseases. An increase in the average life expectancy and its quality led to accelerated aging of the population. To date, 14.7 percent of the population are people over 60 years old on the island of Freedom. The constant growth of the number of elderly people led to the fact that traditional measures of assistance to this social sector have become insufficient. In 1974, the Cuban government turned its attention to this layer of the population. Then the implementation of the program “Attention to the elderly” began “. Within the framework of this program, a differentiated approach to the psychological, biological and social characteristics of older people was ensured. As a result, the average duration on the island reached 76.15 years. Control over the implementation of the program is carried out by the national healthcare system of Cuba. Today, the services of elderly Cubans are departments of primary health care, the services of a family doctor at the place of residence, who want to extend their youth are offered plastic surgery. At the moment, in Cuba there are over 14,000 clubs and 174 recreation centers for grandparents and grandmothers. Social protection organs also take care of home for 96,000 elderly people. Note that this program is implemented not only within the framework of healthcare, legal, sports and cultural organizations, as well as social security departments, are also connected to it. The budget for social security and payment of pensions every year increases by about 20 percent. According to international statistics, Cuba has the oldest population in the Latin American region. Increased life expectancy is observed all over the world. In 1980, there were 550 million elderly people on the planet. According to forecasts, by 2025 their number will increase to 1 billion 250 million people.