Políticas de cuidado en la vejez en Costa Rica: Experiencia de buenas prácticas

Abstract

Costa Rica is part of the Latin American and Caribbean Region, specifically the Central American area. By 2022, its total population amounts to more than five million people according to the National Household Survey (ENAHO). In recent decades, its population structure has been changing very rapidly, with an accelerated increase in the number and proportion of people aged sixty-five and over, in comparison to other age groups.

The accelerated aging process that the country presents poses enormous challenges in the generation of institutional and community actions that provide answers to the needs and requirements of older persons. It has been shown that one of the solutions has to do with support networks that offer care and attention services to this population group from a human rights perspective.

In the article Old Age Care Policies in Costa Rica: Experience of Good Practices, an overview of the country's situation is shown, as well as the advances and realities in old-age care from the perspective of human rights. This article also deals with the experience of good practices through the implementation of the Progressive Care Network for the Integrated Care of Older Adults in Costa Rica (Care Network) and the challenges faced in caring for older persons.

The implementation and development of a Care Network confirms the importance of community work, multi-stakeholder in essence with a willingness to work as a team and the firm conviction that the rights of older persons are strengthened, especially their security, independence, autonomy and self-determination.