News

Witnessing the impact of a humanitarian disaster is always profoundly challenging. But seeing so many older people affected in what is the world's 'oldest' crisis is particularly confronting.

June 4 marks 100 days since the start of full-scale war in Ukraine. For those in eastern Ukraine, February 24 was an escalation of a conflict they have endured for eight years. But, since then, we have seen the lives of everyone across the country changed beyond recognition.

Throughout our lives there are people we respect and admire. Those are the ones we call 'our heroes'. Dr Das is one of them.

A new report by HelpAge International and the International Labor Organisation draws on the testimonials of older people who convey the severe hardships they face because of the lack of an adequate social protection system in Lebanon.

Marijke De Pauw, HelpAge's Global Rights Advisor gives us the overview.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than three million people have passed through Lviv, a city in the west where the borders of five neighbouring countries converge. Most travel further into Europe becoming refugees, but the city and its surroundings has taken in around 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) since the start of the conflict, according to official data, and there are probably even more.

The WHO global estimates on excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic raise many uncomfortable truths about how we as a global community value the lives of older people and those in low- and middle-income countries.

It is impossible not to notice signs of Moldovan solidarity with Ukraine. One such story is that of Argentina, 45, who is the manager of Zarea Hotel in the centre of Chisinau.

When the war in Ukraine began, Moldova, a small country nestled between Ukraine and Romania and Europe's poorest nation, initially thought it could accommodate 15,000 refugees. To nearly everyone's surprise, it received nearly 27 times that number.

Our colleague visited Moldova's border with Ukraine at Palanca, where thousands of refugees cross every day to escape the war.

Women and children have always been victims of war and Ukraine's conflict is no different. Yet the faces are markedly older in this crisis: 25% of Ukrainians are aged 60 or over, making this the world's 'oldest' war.

How HelpAge staff and their families cope as war takes hold, again.