Challenges and perspectives for the development of a future ecosystem for elderly within pandemic

At the beginning of 2020, the World Health Organization declared a state of pandemic caused by the sudden spread of the newly emerged virus, called SARS-CoV-2, whose unpredictable evolution and serious medical consequences have affected numerous countries and population around the world. This crisis has highlighted two important aspects: 1) the healthcare systems are not designed to deal with such a major health challenge and 2) the older people represent the social categories most exposed to this virus. In this pandemic context, the current need for additional resources in the field of healthcare overlapped a pre-existing challenge of healthcare systems, manifested as a permanent increase in the incidence of chronic diseases related to lifestyle changes and ageing population. This situation proved both the current vulnerabilities and the need for new capabilities. In this respect, the required services are based on smart technology, available nearby or at home, which can provide a continuous self and autonomous care. Consequently, the challenge is to develop these technologies, integrating them in a reliable care product, in order to facilitate the shifting from overloaded hospitals to outpatient settings. Therefore, the pandemic impact can be mitigated by a new model of user centred medical ecosystem focused on the need for protection, prevention and assisting home care of the older people by integrating new digital technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data, cloud computing or blockchain). For this purpose, a simplified approach of a proposed future ecosystem of digital services is described below, representing a potential elderly-centred digital solution that can lead in any other future pandemic context to better preventive measures for the community, earlier diagnosis and faster treatment resolution for the patient.