Social mobilization as a strategy for strengthening policies for the elderly: the Brazilian example of the free digital education conference.
1
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brasília - Distrito Federal, Brazil
2
National Secretariat for the Rights of Older Person, Ministry of Human Rights and Citzenship of Brasil, Brasília - Distrito Federal, Brazil
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A108
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT:
Access to digital technologies has become a fundamental determinant of health, citizenship, and the provision of comprehensive care for older adults. In Brazil, more than half of the older population is illiterate or has low levels of formal education, limiting their ability to access increasingly digitalized essential services. The rapid digitalization of public and social services has outpaced the capacity of social structures and public policies to adapt to demographic aging, generating new forms of exclusion, deepening preexisting inequalities, producing rights violations, and constraining intersectoral action. Digital literacy, recognized as a pillar of the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030), is therefore central to health equity in later life. This paper synthesizes the experience of the National Free Conference on Digital Education, collectively organized by participants from nine Brazilian states to contribute to the 6th National Conference on the Rights of Older Persons. The conference was held in a hybrid format and involved approximately 400 participants. A total of 53 proposals were developed, emphasizing the need to implement public policies aimed at democratizing access to digital tools and devices. The proposals highlighted the importance of ensuring the availability of professionals trained in digital literacy, education, misinformation management, and digital security to support older adults’ access to government service platforms. They also reinforced the need to design strategies to prevent scams and fraud, mitigate financial and patrimonial violence, promote digital inclusion, and strengthen digital citizenship. By engaging students, university faculty, health professionals, social assistance teams, and older adults from diverse communities, the conference constituted a democratic and intergenerational space that enabled the sharing of territorial challenges. It supported the collective construction of a policy-oriented agenda to inform public authorities in addressing digital dimensions of comprehensive care for older persons within a public health framework.
Access to digital technologies has become a fundamental determinant of health, citizenship, and the provision of comprehensive care for older adults. In Brazil, more than half of the older population is illiterate or has low levels of formal education, limiting their ability to access increasingly digitalized essential services. The rapid digitalization of public and social services has outpaced the capacity of social structures and public policies to adapt to demographic aging, generating new forms of exclusion, deepening preexisting inequalities, producing rights violations, and constraining intersectoral action. Digital literacy, recognized as a pillar of the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030), is therefore central to health equity in later life. This paper synthesizes the experience of the National Free Conference on Digital Education, collectively organized by participants from nine Brazilian states to contribute to the 6th National Conference on the Rights of Older Persons. The conference was held in a hybrid format and involved approximately 400 participants. A total of 53 proposals were developed, emphasizing the need to implement public policies aimed at democratizing access to digital tools and devices. The proposals highlighted the importance of ensuring the availability of professionals trained in digital literacy, education, misinformation management, and digital security to support older adults’ access to government service platforms. They also reinforced the need to design strategies to prevent scams and fraud, mitigate financial and patrimonial violence, promote digital inclusion, and strengthen digital citizenship. By engaging students, university faculty, health professionals, social assistance teams, and older adults from diverse communities, the conference constituted a democratic and intergenerational space that enabled the sharing of territorial challenges. It supported the collective construction of a policy-oriented agenda to inform public authorities in addressing digital dimensions of comprehensive care for older persons within a public health framework.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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