The rights, entitlements and vulnerabilities of older people are not fully understood, even though they make key contributions to society. HIV and AIDS have led to an increase in households made up of the old and the young. HelpAge International, the Overseas Development Institute, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS, carried out a study to understand better how these households cope during emergencies, so that emergency preparedness and response can properly meet their needs.

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This paper looks at older people’s experience of climate change, their awareness of it and how it makes them vulnerable. It highlights older people’s exclusion from climate change debates, identifies opportunities for influencing policy-making at the national level and makes recommendations for including older people’s perspectives in discussions and adaptation strategies.

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This brief outlines perceptions towards the pilot pension in Katete District, Zambia. It gives a summary of the impacts which have been observed on areas such as nutrition, health, education and the local economy, and also outlines the practical benefits and challenges of implementing the scheme.

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The briefing outlines the impact of OPAs in local development work through experience in Asia/Pacific. It explains what the OPAs are, how do OPAs enhance local development in five key areas; building livelihood security, improving healthcare, promoting participation in community life, promoting participatory governance, and supporting disaster response.

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This background briefing paper argues that the ageing of global populations is a major international challenge. We must invest in new structures and environments for our future ageing societies. Food security and access to decent work and health care are critically important to older people. The promotion of a minimum standard of social protection is recognised as essential for future economic growth and thus recovery from the current financial crisis.

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The briefing was built on the study ‘The situation of older people in cyclone-affected Myanmar: Nine moths after Nargis’. It sets out the principal observations, key policy and programme lessons, and nine critical policy and programme implications for ongoing and future relief initiatives in Myanmar.

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This study was carried out by HelpAge India in collaboration with HelpAge International. It was undertaken in 2 districts in order to better understand the impact of the pension and the role of the Older People’s Groups (PACS programme) in monitoring the implementation of the scheme.

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The report presents the experiences in social protection/social pensions programmes in Thailand. The workshop was supported by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security of Thailand, the Foundation for Older Persons’ Development, the UNFPA, and the Japan Foundation.

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The document gives the views of fifteen senior participants who participated in the 'Voice of older people in Asia', a parallel forum to the the Asia/Pacific Regional Conference on Ageing, Bali, Indonesia. They shared experience in three areas: income security, health services, and dignity and respect in old age.

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A joint Help the Aged/HelpAge International publication. Full of inspiring photos that show how older people have recovered from the tsunami disaster and continue to rebuild their lives.

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Can the aims of the UN Millennium Summit be achieved? HelpAge International is one of 8 NGO partners involved in the Guardian Development Journalism Competition 2008. This publication, written by the NGOs, examines the Millennium Development Goals and looks at what is needed to meet them

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This information sheetprovides a summary of HelpAge’s work in the field of HIV and AIDS and older people,an analysis of the 2007 Survey of the Older Persons in Thailand, and
recommendations for action by stakeholders on the basis of this recently released data.

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This publication introduces the ‘New Rural Social Pension Insurance Programme of Baoji City’, one of the first of its kind in China. It provides administration of the programme, impacts of the programme on rural older people as well as challenges, sustainability and recommendations of the programme.

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The evidence of the impact of HIV and AIDS on older people from HelpAge International research and programmes highlights the hugely problematic gap in the HIV and AIDS response. This is the result of the neglect of older people in HIV and AIDS indicators and therefore, also, in international and national policy and programming.

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This briefing sets out to make the European Union (EU) and member states, African national governments and European non-governmental organisations aware of the importance of including older people in their development policies and practice. It highlights the pivotal position of older people in Africa today, identifies the key challenges facing this generation and cites positive examples of interventions that have changed the lives of older people and those who depend on them.

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This briefing is aimed at the European Union (EU) and member states, European non-governmental organisations, and African national governments. It sets out the need for African governments to revise their legislation to protect older people. It recommends how EU governments can support this process. It highlights the important role that older people play in Africa today, identifies the key areas in which rights abuses can take place, and cites possible examples of interventions that have changed the lives of older people and those who depend on them.

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The voices of poor older people have been little heard in the first five-year review of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, despite the promotion of a participatory approach. This briefing argues that this needs to change in the next review cycle.

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This briefing outlines HelpAge International's call for a major shift in the response to HIV and AIDS, one that includes older people and addresses their needs and caring responsibilities directly, through social protection and through HIV prevention, care and treatment services.

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This briefing explains how in Mozambique older people have set up support groups to cut the costs of care and increase income. Money raised from small businesses started by community credit schemes is put into a social fund run by older people’s committees.

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This publication outlines the reasons for recognising the key role of older people as counsellors and carers. It is based on the Southern Sudan Older People’s Organisation's (SSOPO) work in Juba, Southern Sudan.

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This is a briefing about how an organisation from the Durban townships in South Africa adapted its role to tackle the impact of HIV and AIDS. The Muthande Society for the Aged (MUSA) raises awareness of entitlements and helps individuals make claims, while fostering personal responsibility and mutual support.

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This briefing from AARP and the United Nations Programme on Ageing/DESA, prepared by HelpAge International, proposes ways to realise older people’s rights, highlighting the need for social protection measures; non-discriminatory legislation; identity documents and data on older people; and the integration of older people’s rights into policy processes.

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This publication focuses on the status of older people in Aceh, Indonesia in the context of rehabilitation programmes carried out during the two years following the tsunami disaster, and on opportunities to improve health care for them through community-based services.

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This briefing discusses how thinking on social protection programmes was taken forward at a landmark meeting of African governments in Livingstone, Zambia in March 2006. It summarises major points raised by participants at the meeting including barriers to social protection and the link between social protection and human rights. It also presents key facts on cost and affordability; social protection and HIV/AIDS; and pilot social cash transfer programmes.

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This briefing outlines HelpAge International's call for a universal pension for all people over 60 years of age, in order to realise older people's rights, reduce poverty, tackle HIV and AIDS and effectively support the most vulnerable.

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This is the background briefing for the Intergovernmental regional workshop held in Livingstone, Zambia, 20-23 March 2006, which brought together representatives and ministers from 13 African governments to examine new ways of tackling poverty and promoting the human rights of the poorest people in Africa.

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This paper draws on consultations with poor older people, and HelpAge International research in developing countries, to argue that the lack of adequate, accessible and affordable transport creates a real barrier for older women and men to accessing basic social services.

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A series of briefs discussing key issues on gender and ageing, produced in preparation for the Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid in April 2002.

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This briefing paper was produced to mark United Nations Human Rights Day 2000. It challenges the way poverty, social exclusion and discriminatory attitudes effectively set age limits on human rights.

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