Changes and continuities in the beneficiary population of the Direct Support to Older Adults Program in Nuevo Leon, 2004-2014

Abstract

The current situation faced by the older population is ad­verse because most have neither income from a pension nor social security. Efforts have been made trying to con­tribute to alleviating this state of affairs, such as the Direct Support to Older Adults Program, which was launched in Nuevo Leon in 2004 and whose aim is to improve the well-being of older adults living in poverty. The purpose of this article is to show the characteristics of the beneficiaries of the program from 2004 to 2014; to his end, a representa­tive survey was conducted with these people, and changes in their living conditions were found, above all in areas re­lated to health. The study represents one of the most recent efforts in Nuevo Leon to learn about the operation of the program, although one of its limitations is not knowing if change in the living conditions of this population results from the economic support received, which is partly due to the way it was designed and implemented. It follows that there is no consistency between the objectives and the im­plementation of the program.