Experts analyzed the challenges of the health system in the post-COVID-19 context in a seminar on ageing.

"Healthy Aging: The Challenges of the Chilean Health System after Covid-19", was the title of the second seminar organized by the Research and Postgraduate Institute of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Universidad Central de Chile and the Universidad de Vic-Universidad Central de Cataluña. In this, even leading experts met to discuss and prioritize necessary actions to improve the care for the elderly in the post-Covid scenario.

The dean of the faculty, Gisela Alarcón, expressed her gratitude to the attendees and highlighted the importance of elderly care as a way to contribute to social development and improve health in Chile. Alarcón emphasized the importance of learning from the experience of the pandemic "to get closer to achieving healthier societies and countries."

On behalf of the Sant Andreu Salut Foundation, Spain, its executive director, Manel Valls, highlighted the importance of promoting dialogue from various perspectives to address health challenges. He also manifested his willingness to collaborate from Catalonia and Spain in the advancement of this field, and his gratefulness for the opportunity to participate in the seminar.

Adela Bahamondes, Metropolitan Regional Coordinator of the National Service for the Elderly (SENAMA) was grateful for the invitation to the seminar and emphasized the need to promote a dignified, active and healthy increase of the elderly population in Chile. "We are working on three lines of intervention: care, participation and good treatment of the elderly through rights-based programs focused on both, the needs and the abilities of the elderly," she said.

At the inauguration of the seminar were given two presentations:

“COVID-19 in elderly care centres: What have we learned?", by Valls Martorell. The executive director of the Sant Andreu Salut Foundation explained how the health crisis put health systems and their weaknesses to the test. Improving management, integrating health areas and incorporating technologies were some of the recommendations for the care of the elderly that "should be applied from the pandemic onwards. Everything changes and will continue to change."

"Covid-19 and older people in Chile: Lessons from two years of pandemic", by René Guzmán, head of the National Health Office for the Elderly of the Life Cycle Department of the Health Ministry. In his talk, Mr Guzman presented the lessons learned from the health management of older people during the pandemic, especially related to the vaccination process, referred to as “a fairly successful campaign".