Humanitarian policy
There needs to be a greater understanding of older people's needs in humanitarian policy.
Photo: Ed Gerlock/HelpAge International
At the request of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Working Group, HelpAge has produced a series of policy recommendations for humanitarian agencies.
These are designed to help relief programmes better meet older people's needs.
Strong and fragile
The recommendations are published in Humanitarian Action and Older Persons.
They include:
- increase awareness of the global growth in numbers of old and very old people
- develop training and guidelines on ageing issues for the humanitarian sector
- introduce more effective data collection, including disaggregation by age and sex
- engage older people in decision-making respond to the health needs of older people
- include older people in livelihood interventions reflect the special requirements of older people in return, repatriation and reintegration programmes
- bear in mind older people's dietary needs when distributing food packages.
The IASC is a unique inter-agency forum for coordination, policy development and decision-making involving the key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners.
It will request that member agencies incorporate these recommendations into their policies and programmes.
Download a copy of Strong and fragile: Learning from older people in emergencies (270 kb)
