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Our partners at Help the Aged delivered a petition to Downing Street as part of their Pensions not Poverty campaign in 2007.
Highlights from 2007
In 2007, Help the Aged ran the Pensions not Poverty campaign in partnership with HelpAge International.
It encouraged the UK government to ask national governments around the world to implement social pensions schemes, using the development aid that they received from the UK Department for International Development.
Over 8,000 UK citizens signed the petition which was delivered to 10 Downing Street by an international delegation that included:
- Kurban Haji (front right), member of the London South Asian Elders Forum and Southwark Pensioners Forum
- Enid Irving (front centre), campaigner and journalist
- Haseeb Khan (front left), Executive Director, Resource Integration Centre, Bangladesh.
What's planned for 2008?
This year the UK delegation will focus on HIV and AIDS related policy.
The UN estimates that worldwide around 2.8 million adults aged 50 years and over are living with HIV and AIDS. Yet key data to measure the impact and spread of the virus is only collected for people aged up to 49.
This exclusion means older people are often invisible in policies to tackle the epidemic. It also means that the vital role older people play as carers for people living with HIV, and children orphaned by the virus, goes unrecognised and unsupported.
We want the government to press the UN to include older people in all HIV and AIDS monitoring.
To sign the petition click here.
The delegation
The petition will be presented to Downing Street by an international delegation that will include:
Alan Burnett, a member of the Portsmouth Pensioners Association and campaigner for older people's rights.
Elizabeth Mkama, 71, an older carer for HIV and AIDS orphans in Durban South Africa. Elizabeth cares for six grandchildren and provides them with shelter and food. She also pays for their education. The cost for all this comes out of her monthly pension of R940 (US$116).
