On the edge: why older people’s needs are not being met in humanitarian emergencies

When disaster strikes, older people are among the most vulnerable to neglect, injury, death and disease, yet their needs are often overlooked. This report sets out the scale and nature of this problem and makes recommendations for change.

The document notes that older people's needs during emergency circumstances are very different from those of children or the more able-bodied. Thus, governments and NGOs need to recognise these specific needs and not assume that they will be met through general aid programmes.

The recommendations for humanitarian actors include:

• make older people visible in research, planning and implementation of humanitarian and emergency relief responses
• ensure that data collection in times of humanitarian crisis assesses the needs of all vulnerable groups, is disaggregated by age and sex, and includes older age groups
• ensure that programme staff are familiar with the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) guidelines
• make preparations for the growth in the number of older people living in countries that are vulnerable to humanitarian emergencies

In addition, the paper recommends that:

• Madrid Plan members’ governments have to advocate for the needs of older people in humanitarian emergencies through party policy processes and by raising this issue in parliament
• the UK government has to include older people in the analysis and planning of development programmes and in emergency preparedness programmes