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.'
The Kenyan Government must urgently pay out emergency funds promised to older people to help them through the COVID-19 lockdown
Health officials have warned that as many as 100,000 people could die as a result of COVID-19 in the governorate of Idlib in Syria
President Trump's announcement could have devastating consequences for the older people who are most at risk from the COVID-19
The UN's Humanitarian Response Plan on COVID-19 must be revised to better reflect the specific risks faced by older people caught up in humanitarian crises, HelpAge International said today.
