Utilization of health care services by elderly for respiratory diseases including TB - Challenges

Progressive functional decline of all body organ systems in association with decreased immunity makes elderly vulnerable to all types of diseases including respiratory diseases. Advances in medical fields have resulted in increasing proportion of elderly globally. Healthcare demands of elderly population are complex. Provision of healthcare services for this continuously increasing population subgroup & ensuring their adequate utilization is full of challenges. These are demographic, socioeconomic, financial, physical accessibility, quality of healthcare services, attitudinal & transportation related. Large size of this subgroup with special healthcare needs in context of limited available resources of middle income country like India is the biggest challenge. Poor educational status & socioeconomic condition of Indian elderly, dependence on family, absence of formal social security & healthcare security complicates situation further. Condition of elderly females is particularly worse. In view of poor physical ability with often associated physical disability makes accessibility of healthcare services also significant factor. Overcoming negative attitudinal factors prevalent in Indian elderly & make them utilize available healthcare services is another huge challenge. Quality of healthcare services in form of availability of required expertise & equipments, attitude of healthcare providers towards elderly patients & convenience in utilization of these services also play an important role. Special provisions in TB control program for elderly in view of their complex needs, high prevalence, morbidity & mortality are also required.