The Decade of Healthy Aging in the Americas (2021-2030)
Action Area 1. Change how we think, feel and act towards age and aging
Despite all the contributions and actions older adults have made to their communities and family members, there is still a lot of stereotyping (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) toward people based on their age. Ageism affects people of all ages, but has particularly deleterious effects on the health and well-being of older people.
With the support of the PAHO/WHO, the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons was adopted at the General Assembly of the Organization of the American States (OAS) in June 2015. The Convention specifically advocates for the importance in ensuring that older adults receive:
- independence and autonomy
- informed consent on health matters
- equal recognition before the law
- social security, accessibility and personal mobility
- and many other fundamental human rights
The value in these liberties were decided by experts from multiple regions and several countries have ratified this Convention including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay.
Adopting this Convention promotes the economic, social, political, educational, and cultural engagement of older persons. For example, Costa Rica has successfully implemented multiple laws to further enforce these ideals. The “Integral Law for older adults in Costa Rica” guarantees that older people have “equality of opportunities and a dignified life.” The “San Jose Charter on the Rights of Older Adults in Latin America and the Caribbean” asserts the improvement and development of the social protection systems to meet the needs of older adults, and the “Law on Penalization of Abandonment of Older Adults” ensures that persons who abandon and neglect older adults will receive felony charges. It is important for legal frameworks around the world to further advocate and protect this vulnerable and rapidly expanding older adult population in their respective countries.
