With the aim of helping relief agencies meet
the special needs of older people in emergencies, these guidelines outline
key approaches and actions to help the humanitarian community reduce the
vulnerability associated with ageing, as well ways of enhancing the capacities
and contribution of older people in emergencies.
In addition, wider issues relating to older
people in humanitarian crises are explored, ranging from globally agreed
principles of social and civil practice and global demographic changes,
to the physical impact of the ageing process, common images and assumptions
held about older people, the key problems they face, and the gender dimensions
of their needs.
The guidelines are based on wide-ranging
research from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas and several years of
global disaster experience.