HelpAge International’s role in championing the rights of older people in developing countries was highlighted by UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Mike Foster, at a reception in the UK Parliament on 19 November to mark HelpAge International’s 25th anniversary.

Mike Foster said DFID would work with HelpAge to "ensure that older people are right at the heart of the development agenda".

At the same event Kyrgyzstan MP, Gulnara Derbisheva highlighted issues faced by older people in Kyrgyzstan, which HelpAge International is working with partners to address.

Issues for older people in Kyrgyzstan

Gulnara Derbisheva, a leading activist on women’s rights and ageing issues and one of the first women to be elected to the Kyrgyz Parliament, is a champion of HelpAge International’s Kyrgyzstan partner organisation, Babushka Adoption Fund.

She said that in Kyrgyzstan:

• State pensions are far too low to cover day-to-day expenses. Retired housewives receive US$5 a month, but a monthly food basket is US$110. A 15% increase in the pension in July was cancelled out by a 25% rise in inflation.
• Very few people over 65 know they have a right to free healthcare, which was introduced in 2007. Only 2% of older people have exercised this right. 
• Residential care is under-funded. Many older people feel lonely and isolated. 
• The cost of coal has soared to six times an older person’s pension. Many older people cannot afford fuel and are dying from cold each winter.
• Younger generations are migrating to Russia to find work, leaving older people behind, often with grandchildren in their care. These older people receive little or no financial support from their children. 
• Older women are particularly vulnerable as it is often they who are left caring for grandchildren. Their pension has to cover the cost of childcare and they are unable to find work to supplement this.

Age Demands Action

Gulnara supported HelpAge's Age Demands Action campaign in October this year. She arranged for ministers to visit the homes of older people and discuss these issues with them. Media coverage of the visits has increased pressure on the government to take action.

Gulnara believes that stronger laws are essential to deal with the issues facing older people. She is working with colleagues on the government’s Social Policy Committee to draft universal legislation on ageing.

This will ensure that the government meets its commitments made in the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing and will include: 

• free accessible healthcare 
• adequate pensions
• support in caring for grandchildren
• support to pay for funerals.

Download Mike Foster's speech