Brazil has a total of about 21 million people aged over 60 years (elderly people). In 15 years, it is expected that this number will reach 32 million, making the country the sixth in the world in elderly population. In 2050 Brazil will be a country with more elderly than young people, reaching 63 million. This information was released by the Unified Health System (SUS).

Data such as the above have started various policies to optimize the care of elderly people, including Projeto Saúde da Pessoa Idosa [Elderly People’s Health Project] (Sistema de Monitoramento da Saúde e Qualidade de Vida dos Idosos - Monitoring System of Elderly People’s Health and Quality of Life), developed by Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnologia em Saúde [Institute of Communication and Scientific and Technological Information in Health] (Icict/Fiocruz), with support from Fiotec. The purpose of the proposal is to qualify coordinators of health policies for elderly people of SUS to use Sistema de Indicadores de Saúde e Políticas do Idoso [System of Health Indicators and Elderly People’s Policies](Sisap-Idoso), database with information regarding the elderly population nationwide.

Qualification, which will be performed through the distribution of informative and educational material and courses, is crucial for the system to become an efficient tool in the daily work of health managers. The first course will take place on October 16-18 in Rio de Janeiro. The meeting will bring together coordinators from the south and southeast regions. The educational material will include printed contents about health, construction of indicators and concepts of epidemiology and demography. In 2013 two other editions of the course will be held; one in the northeast and other in the Midwest.

What is Sisap-Idoso

Sisap-Idoso was created in a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Laboratório de Informação em Saúde [Health Information Laboratory] (LIS) of ICICT/Fiocruz. The objective of the website is to provide information and indicators to assist the planning of health actions aimed at the elderly population, besides being an instrument for following-up the targets and guidelines agreed by national and international policies and programs. It is intended that the system is a useful tool for state and municipal managers and coordinators in the area of health for elderly people.

The system consists of four main dimensions: determinants of health encompassing contextual, environmental , socioeconomic,  demographic and behavioral indicators and those of social fragility; health conditions of elderly people with indicators of well-being, functional status and morbidity; health services showing indicators of effectiveness, access, adequacy and financing; and quality of information with indicators of Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade [Information System on Mortality] (SIM), and quality indicators of Sistema de Informações Hospitalares [Hospital Information System] (SIH/SUS).

* With information from Sisap-Idoso