The service of social assistants at home in elder people's care: ¿development or necessity in Cuba?

Abstract

Getting elder is related with health status changes among the population that exert influence on the processes of health, morbidity and mortality. According to the National Direction of Statistics of the Public Health Ministry, the diseases with higher prevalence in this population group are the non-transmissible one. In the current work, with the purpose of improving the health care to elder people, through a bibliographic review, we explored the main demographic variables of our country; we analysed the reasons that originated social assistance at home, and we made a characterization of the qualification of the staff occupied in these functions. The authors considered important to say that Cuba affronts an accelerated demographic aging of the population, and therefore, the social assistants' service at home appeared as a necessity. To achieve the objectives of the national program, the staff working as social assistants should increase their qualification for the elder people's attention.