Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the Elderly with actions from the University Extension

Abstract

University centers committed to human development must be health promoting universities where a better life quality for students and workers should be promoted in order to  influence and act on work and social environments of their communities. The Scientific Chair of life Sciences at the Technological University of Havana "José Antonio Echeverría" is responsible for adapting the concepts and strategies as well as promoting health for the elderly within the university framework and its environment in correspondence with the Program for the Elderly in Cuba.  The results of a holistic management model which was developed taking into account curricular aspects, through health research and actions carried out by students and workers, are presented. The methods used were curricular-oriented work, search for scientific information, identification of problems that affect the health of the Elderly and the development of solutions, student scientific work, community and scientific impact at national and international levels, as well as a methodology itself that introduces the model into practice by applying the new category of comprehensive training praxis. It is concluded that disease prevention and health promotion work can be multiplied, deepened and extended to the entire university and the community with more directed and personalized actions considering the link among curricular aspects, research and university extension activities