Blogs

This World Health Day – let’s tweet older people better!

This World Health Day, on 7 April, the HelpAge network comes together for Age Demands Action on Health where we all campaign for people's health and wellbeing. This year campaigners in more than 40 countries will meet high level...

HelpAge European Affiliates meet to plan network’s future

At the end of March, the European Affiliates of HelpAge International gathered in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to agree shared objectives and develop ways of working more closely as a network. The European Commission funding secured last year has given project...

Embedding rights across all aspects of ageing

Last week, I took part in the fifth Pan-American Gerontology and Geriatrics congress in Colombia. I was invited by Lia Daichman of the International Network on the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) to speak on the progress made in...

Typhoon Haiyan: Inspiring recovery, lasting damage

Flying across the island of Leyte in the Visayas region of the Philippines, you cross vivid green patchworks of rice fields nestled between hills covered by ravaged coconut trees. The damage to the trees is clearly visible from the...

Typhoon Haiyan: Comfort after the trauma

When Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of the Philippines in November 2013, many older people were traumatised by the loss of family members, destruction of houses and treasured possessions, loss of livelihoods, hunger, cold and fear of death. Recognising t

Older people’s nutrition: New tool tested in Ethiopia

I’ve recently returned from Ethiopia, where the first field test of the Rapid Assessment Method for older people (RAM-OP) has been completed in Addis Ababa. RAM-OP is an innovative method of assessing the nutritional needs of older people in...

Post-2015: Africa Member States address ageing populations

At the end of February in Chad, Africa Member States launched a Common Africa Position (CAP) on the post-2015 agenda. The CAP recognised and put more emphasis on: “The need to address the unfinished business of the MDGs and...

Pensions in remote areas: Lessons from Tanzania

Kwa Wazee is an NGO that has been running a programme for older people in Muleba district, Tanzania since 2003. The main part of the programme is a pension targeted at older people with little family support or with...

New tool measures malnutrition in older people in emergencies

Over the next 18 months, HelpAge International, in collaboration with Valid International and Brixton Health, is developing and piloting an innovative method of assessing the nutritional needs of older people in emergencies. We're working with Mark Myatt,

Include ageing in the post-2015 framework, says UN report

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recently published a report "Population and sustainable development in the Post-2015 agenda" recommending the post-2015 framework systematically take into account population ageing. HelpAge contributed significan