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Older activists in Tanzania will today join a global campaign calling for action to tackle the growing health threat caused by diabetes through screening, testing, treatment and education. The actions, taking place on this World Health Day, which is being commemorated under the theme: “Beat Diabetes: Scale up Prevention, Strengthen Care and Enhance Surveillance”, are part of HelpAge International’s annual Age Demands Action campaigns led by older activists from across the world to draw attention to the challenges they face.

On World Health Day 2016 thousands of Age Demands Action campaigners are calling for diabetes to be tackled early through screening, testing, treatment and education.

On World Health Day, 7 April, older campaigners in more than 50 countries will be calling for diabetes, a leading cause of death, to be tackled early through screening, testing, treatment and education. The actions are part of HelpAge International’s Age Demands Action campaign.

As member states, UN agencies and civil society groups gather at the Commission on the Status on Women to promote gender equality, HelpAge International is drawing attention to the lack of data on older women, leaving them vulnerable to violence and discrimination.

HelpAge International is calling for more to be done to end violence and abuse against older women, saying that a lack of data is leaving them at risk.

As the Syria conflict enters its sixth year, HelpAge International will be working to support older refugees by launching a healthcare programme in Lebanon.

Effective humanitarian responses to the Syria crisis must recognise older people’s vulnerabilities, says HelpAge International, as it launches a project to support their healthcare needs on the fifth anniversary of the conflict.

Last week members of the HelpAge EU network joined together in Brussels to call on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to recognise and respond to population ageing as a critical issue within development and humanitarian policy.

Dr Giorgi Pkhakadze, HelpAge International’s humanitarian health programme manager for Eurasia and the Middle East, has been selected to serve on the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel (IAP).

The UN Secretary-General is to be commended for recognising older people’s needs in humanitarian responses, but more needs to be done, says HelpAge International.

While millions of Syrians have managed to escape their country since the conflict began almost five years ago, there are still some 13.5 million in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside the country’s borders.

Heads of state arriving in London this week for a high-level donor conference on Syria need to commit to long-term humanitarian funding for vulnerable people in Syria, including older people, says HelpAge International.