The sickly sweet stench of rotting cattle flesh overwhelmed us as we arrived in one of the kebeles (neighbourhood) in Dire woreda (district), Orimiya region, Ethiopia to check out the current drought situation. The horror of decaying carcasses at...
In Brussels last week, to mark a Day of Action on social protection, I attended a round table debate at the European Parliament. It was organised by the European Working Group on Social Protection and Decent Work, of which...
In Brussels last week, to mark a Day of Action on social protection, I attended a round table debate at the European Parliament. It was organised by the European Working Group on Social Protection and Decent Work, of which...
Today was the first session of the newly created Open Ended Working Group on Ageing at the UN in New York. This new UN working group was established at the 2010 UN General Assembly to look at strengthening the...
Two years ago, we asked you for your views on our publications, newsletters, blogs and social media. We then used your comments to give you what you wanted: Specific facts, figures and maps on all the regions (and countries)...
In expanding our work on health, we aim to significantly improve the number of older people receiving good quality health and care services. Rapid global ageing, the increase of non-communicable diseases (strokes, diabetes, cancer, dementia, etc...) in th
I doubt in my search over the last few months if any other media story resonates more with HelpAge and why we exist. The Guardian this week reported on the 75-year old Georgian woman who, while scavenging for copper...
I travelled to the Philippines last month to see the work we have been carrying out through our partner in response to typhoon Ketsana. Throughout my trip I saw how older people have been and are still working to...
Election results in Haiti are due out today. For whoever wins there will be no easy answer. Unemployment is at 80%. For the hundreds of thousands of families still living in cramped camps over a year after the earthquake...
As regular readers of this blog know, older people in disasters rarely make the headlines. Japan, of course, has changed that. Many media commentators have said that the distinguishing feature of this particular disaster will be the numbers of...
Since Friday, terrifying images of the tsunami devastating eastern Japan have rolled out on news channels all over the world. Reporters are desperate for information and angles but one new story is clearly emerging - how Japan's large population...
Looking back at the last 100 years since International Women's Day started, I count myself fortunate to be born in the ‘baby boomer' era, a couple of years after the Second World War. It has given me the opportunity...
