WUNRN

AGEING WOMEN

International Day of Older Persons, 1 October 2009. The theme this year is: "Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of Older Persons: Towards a Society for All Ages".

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http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/popageing.html

UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON AGEING

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Via HREA

1 October 2009 - Today, one in every ten is 60 years and older. By 2050, one out of every five will be an older person, and by 2150, one third of the people in the world are expected to be 60 years of age or older.

In our fast ageing world, older people will increasingly play a critical role - through volunteer work, transmitting experience and knowledge, helping their families with caring responsibilities and increasing their participation in the paid labour force. Older persons make major contributions to society. For instance, throughout Africa and elsewhere - millions of adult AIDS patients are cared for at home by their parents. On their death, orphaned children left behind (currently, 14 million under the age of 15 in African countries alone) are mainly looked after by their grandparents. It is not only in developing countries that older persons' role in development is critical. In Spain for example, caring for dependent and sick individuals is mostly done by older people (particularly older women).

Source: United Nations Programme on Ageing

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WHO - World Health Organization http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/emergency/en/index.html

Direct Link to WHO 49-Page 2008 Document:

http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/EmergenciesEnglish13August.pdf

Older persons in emergencies: An active ageing perspective

The development of this report is a concrete WHO response to the 2002 United Nations Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) which recommended greater recognition and enhancement of the positive contributions made by older persons during emergency situations. In collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Help the Aged (UK), the World Health Organization commissioned case studies in 2006-2007 to examine how older persons fared in conflict-related and naturally caused emergencies in both developed and developing countries – war, drought, heat wave, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami, ice storm, wild fires and a nuclear power plant explosion.

The report contributes a wealth of real-life experiences to inform policy and practice makers about the needs and contributions that older people face during emergency and reconstruction phases.

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