Young people in Latin America are a risk group for covid-19

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"I never imagined that I would be in that hell for three months," laments Delfina Polo Vivero after surviving the covid-19 in intensive care for her 30 years.

The Colombian doctor succeeded after two cardiorespiratory arrests, in an induced coma and connected to one of the few extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines (ECMO) that exist in her country.

However, what he suffered is not an isolated case for young adults in Latin America.

Unlike their peers in rich countries, those under 39 in this region are at greater risk of dying or becoming seriously ill from coronavirus, according to a recent study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

More information

• Generation Covid: our responsibility to the future of Latin America and the Caribbean

• Covid-19 and educational inequality in Latin America

• The pandemic in Latin America

"I was aware that being on the front line I was going to get infected," recalls the professional who was summoned in March to attend the pandemic at the National Police in Cartagena.

This despite the fact that he suffered from asthma.

Within three months, 70% of his area was infected.

One of his colleagues died at the age of 38 and, in a few days, Polo entered the Intensive Care Units (ICU) with 80% of his lungs compromised.

Colombia is one of the five developing countries with the highest number of confirmed deaths from coronavirus, along with Peru, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa.

By comparing data from these countries with high-income countries that have had a similar mortality rate, the IDB arrives at worrying evidence for Latin America: they are young adults (20 to 39 years) and middle-aged (40 to 50 years ) of this region who most die from this disease.

For example, in Colombia 30 out of 100 deaths from covid-19 are people under 60 years of age.

While in the United States the figure is reduced to 12 out of 100 deaths.

In Colombia, 30 out of 100 deaths from covid-19 are people under 60 years of age.

While in the United States the figure drops to 12

Polo still has a hard time processing that he was close to being part of this statistic.

"Despite my physical deterioration, because of my age they decided to undergo ECMO therapy," admits who was transferred to another city for this procedure with scarce technology in the region.

Precisely, the more limited access to the health system is one of the reasons why the younger populations of these countries have less chance of recovering from covid-19.

The virus is the same, but getting sick in Colombia is not the same as the United States.

In fact, according to IDB research, a patient between 40 and 49 years old in a developing country has statistically the same probability of dying as one between 60 and 69 years old in a rich one.

"When I woke up, the scars appeared and I saw how my life had taken a complete turn," he recalls.

In the following months, the young doctor had to learn to speak, write and walk again, with consequences for her entire life: hypertension due to cardiorespiratory arrest, diabetes due to corticosteroids and pulmonary fibrosis that, in a short time, will force her to use permanent oxygen.

Part of this difference with rich countries is also explained by the prevalence of pre-existing diseases, such as Polo's, which lead to more serious complications.

For Juan Pablo Chauvin, an economist and researcher at the IDB, the socioeconomic conditions of Latin American families are correlated with their health conditions.

“The poorest families, especially in cities, are more likely to be exposed to unhealthy environments, high levels of pollution, or working conditions with health risks.

A greater proportion of the region's population faces these conditions than in high-income countries ”.

As if that were not enough, these same inequalities affect the recovery of patients.

As Polo relates, during his hospitalization and time of medical disability, he received no salary or compensation.

Faced with the possible seizure of his house, he had to "take off the oxygen" and go to work three months earlier than expected by doctors.

Deaths that nobody talks about

"It makes me very sad to see how young people neglect themselves more and more," says the doctor, who maintains strict measures for fear of being infected again.

But that fear is not common in youth.

Even when Latin America was the epicenter of the pandemic, a third of young people did not feel that risk, according to a Unicef ​​survey.

Although this false security is not exclusive to young Latin Americans, for Chauvin the challenge is that the greatest risk to which they are exposed is still "little publicized."

That happens in Peru, the most deadly country per inhabitant in the region, where 20% of the deaths were between 20 and 29 years old.

"The news that young people are asymptomatic reinforced the invulnerability attributed to us," explains Freddy Requejo, coordinator of the Voluntary Brigade of Health Agents in that country.

"Given the lack of awareness, we must reach young students with information," says the specialist from the university organization that has allowed them to better understand the crisis with virtual talks on mental health, vulnerability and self-care.

Age cannot in itself be a sufficient indicator to prioritize vaccines in Latin America

But still in Peru little is said about the high youth mortality rate of the first wave.

An incidence that is not repeated in any developing country and further validates the relationship that the IDB makes between fatality and lack of access to health services.

When the virus arrived in the country, there were only 820 ICU beds for its 32 million inhabitants, according to the Peruvian Society of Intensive Medicine.

He didn't have enough oxygen either.

Deficiencies that made the first wave, a tsunami that left many Peruvians without breathing or intensive care.

Mixed vaccinations

As countries begin vaccination against COVID-19, the results of the IDB study are a signal for Latin America: age cannot in itself be a sufficient indicator to prioritize vaccines.

“It seems important to consider people who, due to their socioeconomic conditions, are at greater risk of contracting and spreading the disease, especially those who live in conditions of high residential overcrowding,” says Chauvin.

However, the acquisition of vaccines reproduces, once again, the inequality between rich and poor countries.

While the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada have already bought vaccines to immunize their inhabitants several times, according to the Unicef ​​information board;

Lower-income countries like Colombia and Peru could get enough vaccines for their entire population only in 2024.

It is no coincidence that young people in these countries have found a way to counter this inequity in clinical trials of vaccines.

"I signed up because I wanted to be vaccinated if it works," says Rosmery Cueva, one of the 10,000 vaccine volunteers from the Sinopharm laboratory who have helped Peru to be in a better position in the negotiations and thus complete the purchase of the first million doses that would arrive this month for the first line.

"This experimental process has allowed us to collaborate with our country at a time when we don't know what will happen," he says.

Even though the date on which the country will have enough vaccines for all its inhabitants is uncertain, the volunteer reiterates: "I feel that I helped somehow the uncertainty is not so great."

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