Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

<strong>Draft</strong> <strong>first</strong> <strong>regional</strong> <strong>report</strong> on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development
Chapter III
In its national <strong>report</strong>, Chile described the implementation of the Basic Solidarity Old-age Pension, a benefit
that provides a specified sum of money to individuals who are not entitled to a pension under any pension
system. Women, who have traditionally not contributed to pension systems because they perform unpaid
labour, are the main beneficiaries of the scheme as it gives them access to an old-age pension. El Salvador
<strong>report</strong>ed that since 2013, it has been investing in its Comunidades Solidarias programme: the rural arm of the
programme has given access to a basic universal pension to 28,000 older persons, 54% of whom are women,
while the urban arm has provided benefits to 4,800 persons, 58% of whom are women.
Meanwhile, through its Social Protection Programme for Older Adults, known as “Colombia Mayor”,
Colombia provides bimonthly subsidies to pay for the basic necessities and improve the quality of life of
more than 1.4 million persons in vulnerable situations. In Jamaica, more than 60,000 older persons received
bimonthly cash grants in the last fiscal year (2016/17) under the social assistance programme of the Ministry of
Labour and Social Security. In its <strong>report</strong>, Uruguay noted that there was a high level of social security coverage
in retirement, with 87.9% of persons aged 65 and over receiving pensions and retirement benefits in 2016.
Mexico <strong>report</strong>ed that as part of its National Inclusion Strategy, efforts were made to include older persons
in the Pensión para Adultos Mayores (pension for older adults) programme. Furthermore, as part of efforts
to provide financial support to older persons, the statutory age for receiving a social pension was lowered
from 70 to 65, resulting in an additional 2.3 million beneficiaries of the pension programme since 2012. The
programme currently covers 5.4 million older persons.
3. Improvement and extension of social protection in health
The most salient feature of demographic patterns in all of the region’s countries in the next few decades will
be a growing older population and a shrinking young population. Of course, the timing of this shift will not be
the same in all the countries as they progress towards more advanced stages of the demographic transition,
but most of them still have a window of opportunity in which to make the institutional, programmatic and
practical changes required by population age structure trends and the resulting changes in sectoral demands.
One of the most obvious changes will be in demand for health care (Huenchuan, 2013).
The Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development includes specific measures on social protection
covering health. One such measure is priority measure 26, in which States agree to bring health policies into
line with the challenges of the epidemiological profile arising from ageing and the epidemiological transition,
reinforcing the fight to eradicate communicable diseases and implementing actions for the prevention and
treatment of non-communicable diseases.
These recommendations are being implemented in a heterogeneous group of countries. ILO figures
point to vast differences in social protection in health in the region. At the end of the last decade, some
countries —like Uruguay— had attained extensive coverage of the population, while in others, less than one
third of the population had social protection. This was true of the Dominican Republic (26.5%), Guyana (23.8%),
Paraguay (23.6%), Ecuador (22.8%), El Salvador (21.6%), Jamaica (20.1%) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
(9.4%) (ILO, 2018). 68
In its national <strong>report</strong>, Colombia notes that the proportion of persons aged 60 years and over affiliated
with the Social Security in Health system had risen to almost 96% in 2014. El Salvador’s <strong>report</strong> cites the
Older Adults Comprehensive Services Act, which provides for interventions targeted at older persons, their
families and communities, through the promotion of health, disease prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and
rehabilitation. Thus, in the area of preventive health, 800 older persons’ clubs have been set up in community
family health centres, catering to more than 20,000 older persons. Through its Comprehensive Health Care
Model based on Family and Community, Peru has been providing differential services in 11 regions across the
country. In addition, there are 314 primary health care establishments that offer differential comprehensive
68
In 2016, the percentage of persons with severe disabilities receiving disability allowances ranged from 100% in Brazil and Chile to less than 5% in Guatemala,
Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia (ILO, 2018).
83