Moldova
Our work in Moldova began in 2000 through our partner Second Breath and the HelpAge office in Chisinau was set up in 2005. We have a network of over ten organisations involved in our work and over 250 volunteers. HelpAge in Moldova supports older people in several areas:
- Healthcare: We enable older men and women and those in their care to get quality healthcare. We focus on non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes.
- Elder abuse: We protect the rights of older people and ensure that the most vulnerable receive age-appropriate services.
- Social protection: We advocate for pensions and social assistance to ensure older people have an adequate standard of living.
- Migration: HelpAge explores the impact of migration on older people and the grandchildren left in their care and ways to improve solidarity between generations.
- Human rights: We support the full realisation of older people's rights under national and international legal frameworks and collaborate with governments and UN agencies to achieve this goal.
Life story: Valentina, 60
With help from our partner, Valentina now receives a pension.
Photo: Maxim Ahner/HelpAge International
Valentina told us: "The loss of my son, who died in a road accident when he was only 21, was the hardest point in my life.
"After that I started to have health problems. My blood pressure rose and I had a stroke that paralysed my right hand and leg."
Valentina did not have documents to prove that she had been employed, so she could neither receive a pension nor get a health insurance policy. She would have had to pay high fees for a medical examination and treatment.
"Re-applying for these documents was very difficult, because I was born in Gagauz (now an autonomous part of Moldova). So to get these papers back I have to go to many state bodies," she said.
Valentina could not afford to travel the 250km to Gagauz to apply in person so HelpAge's partner organisation went and applied on Valentina's behalf.
She said: "I thank HelpAge and their partner the Organisation of Veterans from the bottom of my heart for going to all these authorities on my behalf.
"Without their help and these documents, I wouldn't be able to receive my pension now. When I found out that my documents had been reinstated, I was the happiest person in the world."
Supporting older people in Moldova
- Every year, our volunteers visit over 1,600 older people in their homes to help them care for themselves. We also run information sessions on good health for older people and participate in national and community level meetings and campaigns on healthcare.
- We have worked with civil society organisations, the government and UN agencies to develop a strategy to mainstream ageing into policy.
- Through our work, the UN Higher Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva has recommended that the Government of Moldova extend social security benefits to people working in the informal sector, increase pensions, target poverty alleviation programmes at older people and make sure emergency ambulance services reach older people.
- We are also a member of the Governmental Commission on the Issues of Older People in Moldova.
What next?
Our next steps are to:
- continue working on the rights of older people by providing technical support to the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family and the Ministry of Health,
- support older people to challenge discrimination and elder abuse,
- help older people to improve access to quality health, and care services, as well as work on health promotion and management of non-communicable diseases,
- support older people as carers of grandchildren left behind by migration,
- develop the HelpAge network and build partnerships to work effectively with and for older men and women.
Our Affiliates
Our partners
Balti, Gender Centre, Kindness, Association of Veterans from Ialoveni, Women’s Club “Comunitate”, Artizana, Manta, Inspiration, Women’s Club "Speranta”, Pro-Democratia, Older People’s Hopes from the North of Moldova, Dignity, Avante, Fate and Charity.
Our donors
European Commission, Embassy of Netherlands in Kiev, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Jewish Relief, Finnish Embassy in Bucharest, UN Women