HelpAge International Latest blogs

Older people main victims of recent Argentina floods

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:57:39 +0100

Silvia Gascon is the Director of the Gerontology programme at Isalud University, Argentina. She is also a member of the HelpAge International Board.� On 2 April, an extremely violent storm hit the city of La Plata, just outside the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. In only a few hours, nearly 400 m...

Human rights are the rights of all!

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:16:40 +0100

On a cold and windy Madrid day, we gathered at the Ministry of Social Services to discuss the importance and necessity of implementing a new UN convention on the rights of older people. Attendees came from various countries and organisations; but all had been working in the ageing field on a nation...

Age Demands Action on Health in Serbia

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:59:39 +0100

We marked World Health Day in Serbia by using the slogan “Are you under pressure? Arterial hypertension; from prevention to rehabilitation“. Serbia is part of a group of countries where the risk of hypertension is above the European average. According to statistics, hypertension is the ...

Workshop in Bangladesh to hear the �Voices of the Marginalised�

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:14:50 +0100

As part of HelpAge's engagement with the post-2015 process, they have linked up with SightSavers, Action on Disability and Development (ADD), the Institute of Development Studies in the UK and a wider group of organisations working on disability and mental health.� The aim is to explore the potenti...

I just called to say I love you!

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:11:28 +0100

Stevie Wonder once sang, I just called to say I love you! But what if you could not call your loved ones because your phone had small buttons that you could no longer see? This is the stark reality that many older people face worldwide. Our recent joint report with the UN, Ageing in the 21st Ce...

Age Demands Action on Health in Moldova: Controlling high blood pressure

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:05:34 +0100

This year, HelpAge International in Moldova held our Age Demands Action on Health campaign with the Ministry of Health across two towns and seven villages. Our events were called "Keeping blood pressure under control" to fit with the theme of World Health Day, which was hypertension. Nine HelpAge p...

Age Demands Action on Health in Bangladesh

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:12:05 +0100

As a president of the National Federation of Older People's Associations in Bangladesh, I see that many older people do not know about their rights. When I meet older people in communities, I realise that we need to raise more awareness on what rights older people are entitled to.� I am worried abo...

Voices of the marginalised in Bangladesh

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:41:11 +0100

Last week, I was in Bangladesh with a wonderful group of researchers who have spent months collecting stories from their communities on the issues people living with disabilities, people with mental health problems and older people identify as being important to their lives. This is part of a projec...

Post-2015 in Bali: An interesting and fruitful meeting

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:30:50 +0100

From the 23rd to the 25th of March was celebrated in Bali, a High Level Panel Meeting of Eminent Persons�on the Post 2015 Development Agenda. During the first two days, more than 150 representatives of civil society from around the world were given the opportunity to discuss various thematic issues ...

Syria conflict: Life as an older refugee

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:09:49 +0100

HelpAge's Amandine Allaire has been talking to older Syrian refugees in Jordan about their experiences. Here she tells us their stories of what life is really like as an older refugee in the camps and cities in Jordan. Flight from Syria Many of the older people I met in Jordan were visibly affecte...

Highs and lows from the High-level Panel meeting in Bali

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:27:04 +0100

In March, the UN High-level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda met in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting was hosted by our President Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is co-chairing the panel with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson. I was invited to the mee...

World Health Day: Half of over 50s have high blood pressure but most don't know it

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:42:02 +0000

This World Health Day (7 April) is an important day in the Age Demands Action (ADA) calendar, as it is one of the few days of the year where health is at the top of the international agenda. On this day, ADA campaigners around the world set about reminding their governments of the health pledges ma...

Strengthening the network in the heart of rapid ageing

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:36:03 +0000

Last week HelpAge network members from Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Korea met in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The purpose of the meeting was to start an exciting, new EU-funded project focused on strengthening the network on ageing in the region. Over the next four ...

My night working in a Syrian refugee camp

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:07:22 +0000

On 13 March, I worked a night shift at Za'atari refugee camp near the northern border between Jordan and Syria. Here is my diary of the night: 9:45 pm: I arrive in Za'atari camp with members from the Handicap International team, who we're working with in Jordan. We meet our UNHCR contact at the Int...

Technological solutions for older people: Challenges and opportunities

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:58:25 +0000

Technological innovations in the forms of medical and assistive devices are essential in contemporary healthcare systems. They play a crucial role in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. Medical machines and implants are just a couple of these life-saving devices that have increa...

New report reveals insight into the situation of older people in Myanmar

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:22:31 +0000

Population ageing is one of the biggest challenges facing East Asia. In Myanmar, currently about 9% of the population is aged above 60 and this is expected to rise rapidly. By 2050, it is estimated that older people will comprise close to a quarter of Myanmar’s overall population. The lack of...

The Serbia I want

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:25:39 +0000

In my work coordinating the Red Cross of Serbia's activities for older people, I meet many older men and women who boldly state their views on how their lives can be improved through communal action. 17.4% of the Serbian population is over the age of 65, which makes us one of the oldest nations in ...

International Women's Day: Eliminating violence against women

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:08:33 +0000

It's been a really exciting first week here in New York at the 57th UN Commission on the Status of Women�(CSW). This year the theme is eliminating violence against women and girls, which has received strong support from Country Delegates. With a 90% turn out from Delegates around the world and a ...

International Women�s Day: Stop this silence on violence against older women

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:48:29 +0000

After inequity earlier in life because they are female, the majority of women in poorer countries suffer prejudice again once they become older�- a double burden of discrimination. In many societies, being widowed or single, either through divorce or never having married, profoundly changes a woman...

UNJUST: Older people�s needs in emergencies are being ignored

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:51:13 +0000

The impact of disasters on ageing societies has already happened in more developed countries, with over two-thirds of the deaths from the 2011 Japan tsunami over the age of 60. This changing demographic picture is fast becoming a global phenomenon, which reinforces the need for government and human...

Syrian refugees in Jordan struggle to survive current crisis

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:59:45 +0000

In my role as HelpAge's Emergencies Health and Nutrition Advisor, I recently travelled to Jordan. My aim was to collect information on the humanitarian situation and response to the Syrian refugee crisis by meeting relevant stakeholders including UN agencies and NGOs.� I was also tasked with colle...

European Commission launches its proposals for the post-2015 framework

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:48:25 +0000

This week in a cold grey Brussels, the European Commission (EC) launched its long-awaited communication on the post-2015 framework. This communication will help frame the European Union (EU) debate on this process in coming months and will contribute to the formulation of a common EU position ahead ...

Mozambique floods: Older people will not be forgotten

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:05:55 +0000

Torrential rain in the first two weeks of January swelled the Limpopo river levels drastically and caused the government to advise all to evacuate to higher ground.� On the evening of 23 January, queues of cars, minibuses, trucks and tractors headed east towards Chiaquelane and Macia, loaded up wit...

Working for a better life

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:12:02 +0000

Already a few months into my 12 month assignment with HelpAge International and my first opportunity to reflect was on the bus winding through the mountains west of Chiang Mai. My destination was the agricultural district of Samoeng. Here, people over 60 make up over 20% of the population, as young...

Connecting with older people: Promoting awareness of ageing among young people in Cambodia

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:12:44 +0000

By Catherine Yu (Right, HelpAge Cambodia, Assistant Programme Manager) and Yanmei Ng (Left, HelpAge Cambodia, Home Care and Health Curriculum Development Facilitator). To raise young people's awareness of ageing issues and encourage people to volunteer for HelpAge in Cambodia, we conducted a "Conne...