WSSD: Summit fails to take account of ageing

Summit fails to take account of ageing
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which opens in
Johannesburg on 26 August, is failing to recognise that increasing numbers
of those living in extreme poverty are older people.

The WSSD calls poverty reduction "the greatest global challenge facing the
world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development".
It will re-state the goal of halving the proportion of people living in
extreme poverty by 2015.

But it is population ageing rather than population growth amongst the poor
that is now the core demographic trend. It has become a major social policy
challenge in developed and developing countries, HelpAge International
argues.

The total population growth rate in least developed countries (LDCs) is set
to fall from 2.5 per cent in 2000-2005 to 2 per cent in 2025-2030. But in
contrast, the number of over 60s in LDCs is expected to rise from 2.8 to
3.5 per cent over the same period.

Shock statistics suggest that HIV/AIDS is killing millions of working age
adults in many countries of Africa and Asia, reversing expected progress in
life expectancy. But despite this, the overriding trend continues to be
rapid population ageing.

Many more people are living into old age than are being infected with and
dying of AIDS. In South Africa, where the WSSD is being held, 80 per cent of
15-49 year olds are still not infected with HIV/AIDS.

But they are increasingly reaching old age in poverty and ill health, which
have profound and long-term impacts on the older people themselves and
their families.

Many older people lack the most basic requirements - food, water and
shelter. Material poverty not only denies older people's basic needs but
also prevents their effective participation in society.

Marto Karyo, an 80-year old Indonesian woman describes her struggle to
survive: "A good life is when I can find food and be healthy. I have to beg
on the street to get money. I don't like to beg. I feel ashamed but I have
no choice."

HelpAge International's work on older people's nutritional status in Africa
indicates that 30 per cent of older people are undernourished, a finding
repeated in Haiti, where lack of food was a major cause of suffering for
older people.

Evidence from the HelpAge International network shows that even small
amounts of regular cash income have real poverty-reducing impacts for the
poorest older people and their households.

A study in South Africa shows that older people's pensions are supporting
their families' basic needs, including food, clothing and school fees for
the children. In Namibia, research found that some 30 per cent of social
assistance benefits to older people is spent on educating and caring for
grandchildren.

Only five months ago, the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing,
adopted by the UN, explicitly called on member states to ensure that older
persons are included in policies and programmes to achieve international
poverty reduction targets.

"Unless old age poverty and the potential for investment in older people are
recognised, these targets will not be achieved and development is unlikely
to be sustainable," says Todd Petersen, HelpAge International's Chief
Executive.

------------------------------------------
HelpAge International is a global network of not-for-profit
organisations with a mission to work with and for disadvantaged older people
worldwide to achieve a lasting improvement in the quality of their lives.
For more information about the work of HelpAge International, please visit
our website: www.helpage.org

This email and any files transmitted with it are
confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to
whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the sender. Any unauthorised disclosure, copying, distribution, or
printing of the message or accompanying files, or authorised use of any
information contained therein, by anyone other than the intended
recipient(s) is prohibited and may be unlawful.

Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of HelpAge International or its affiliates.