Perspectives on Community Geriatrics: An Applied Proposal From Colombia, South America

This essay argues for the urgent need to redefine the role of geriatricians, as medical speciality, beyond hospital settings, emphasizing the importance of community geriatrics (CG) in Latin America. Despite global discussions on integrating CG in geriatric practice, its presence remains marginal in low-income countries, where older adults face systemic barriers to health care access. The essay calls for a discussion of CG within geriatric training model, which often prioritizes hospital-based care, and advocates for a community-based approaches to aging. Using a geriatric program in Colombia as a case study, the essay proposes that geriatric education should actively address poverty, inequity and local capacities to develop CG, and geriatricians must be involved beyond biomedical realities, developing capacities for interdisciplinary collaboration, social prescription, and rights-based care. A real-life case illustrates how levering community sources can enhance older persons’ wellbeing, and how a geriatrician must be involved in the development of aging social policies.