Modelling of the Impact of Covid-19 on Public Health of Elderly People in Latvia and Iceland

Cooperation is planned between the Norwegian and Latvian scientific institutions to understand the impact of Covid-19 on health, social psychological aspects and economic opportunities of the elderly population. In 2020 fieldwork was conducted in Latvia before and after the pandemic, thus creating a database "Study on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe" (the eight wave of the SHARE survey is conducted throughout the European Union in 2020).

The data is available in Latvia and will enable to compare and understand data before and after Covid-19 pandemic for nearly 3000 respondents over the age of 50. The main focus of the research will be on the issues of social exclusion, access of health services, economic stress, mental health and well-being. Similar to the SHARE database, Norway`s study on population aging NorLag is available to researchers from other countries, thus facilitating cooperation between researchers of different countries. Latvian researchers, using the acquired models from the SHARE database and together with the researchers of Norway, and by using data on population of the respective country, will conduct evaluation of the scale of the impact, using statistical calculations of probability for several risk groups of population of Latvia and Norway.

As Norway has a very knowledgeable scientific team, which has been conducting an ongoing multidisciplinary research on the issue of population aging, it is essential to continue the cooperation in order to provide the society of Latvia with an in-depth scientific explanation of SHARE results, as well as to gain an opportunity to apply our methods and models to the analysis of population of Norway, and use the abovementioned for the development of sociopolitical innovations in both countries.

The activities planned within the frameworks of the project include a seminar in Norway for engaging and strengthening cooperation and planning, followed by a statistical modelling seminar in Latvia at RSU computer room together with Norwegian experts. It has been planned to organise seminars in Latvia, bringing together stakeholders from public administration and groups of society with the aim to educate and inform the society.

The project is implemented in collaboration with Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) /OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway