In response to the UN policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on older people, NGOs highlighted critical gaps that need to be addressed in the UN system in relation to older people.
The monsoon season means that the camps are being hit by heavy rains whilst preparing for the weekend's Eid festivities, slowing COVID-19 preparations at a time when the virus is starting to spread in the camps, exposing older people to risk.
Testing is so difficult in a country like India with such a large population and inadequate health infrastructure. In the absence of active community screening, the numbers reported may be minuscule compared to the real numbers.
Member States called for access to safe testing, treatment, and palliative care for COVID-19, with particular attention to older people, in a resolution that was unanimously adopted.
Flooding in East Africa has left hundreds of older people who should be protected from COVID-19 dangerously exposed to the virus in crowded, confined places or out in the open air
In response to the global crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, community volunteers, local civil society groups, and major Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have joined forces to demand a 12 point plan from world leaders.
We must do everything we can to prevent the number of positive COVID-19 cases spiralling out of control. It is now vital that the government and humanitarian agencies work together to step up testing facilities. There are currently no such facilities in the camps and the nearest one is 30km away.
Older people are expected to keep themselves safe at home to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19, but many of them still depend on going out to work in order to put a meal on the table or buy other essentials.
Zafor Alam (62) lives in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. He normally earns a daily wage of 500 taka ($6 US) by selling tea and biscuits but has not been able to earn a single taka since the lockdown was enforced in April.
Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, has signed a new four-year agreement with HelpAge International to support the organisation's work to protect the lives and rights of older people around the world.
'The COVID-19 pandemic has brutally exposed longstanding issues in the way that older people have been neglected and excluded in humanitarian responses.'
