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	Human Rights Chief supports new Convention on the rights of older persons by UN Human Rights Office, HelpAge International   Age Demands Action say campaigners in 40 countries.   The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People will bring attention to elder abuse and the importance of a new UN convention on the rights of older people.   “Older people repeatedly say that they are considered useless, incompetent and a drain on resources by their families and by society, as well as being subjected to abuse,” said Bridget Sleap, Senior Rights Policy Adviser at HelpAge International.   “Not enough is being done to stop this abuse and protect the rights of older people,” said Sleap, who wrote the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) report on behalf of the alliance.   The report entitled ‘In Our Own Words’ is based on consultations with older people across 50 countries who were asked how they feel they are discriminated against in older age. The report revealed elder abuse occurs in different settings.   A resident from a nursing home in Serbia said, “In the home they take all our money, they don’t give us allowances and they constantly threaten we’ll be kicked out if we don’t behave.”   Nzingo, 67, from Kenya has suffered from elder abuse at the hands of a relative, which also resulted in the death of her 90-year-old mother.   “The man slashed me on my head and I immediately fainted. I used the money I had saved to pay for my hospital bills. I still don’t know what was the cause or reason for that kind of brutality,” said Nzingo, whose attacker was arrested but later released on bail.   “I am very scared. I don’t sleep well. When I hear any noise I am alarmed. In my dreams I see that person following me,” she said.   Despite these kinds of cases, older people’s right to be free from violence and abuse is not currently protected under international law. There is also inadequate research into elder abuse, which makes tackling the problem even more difficult.   “The Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014 shows elder abuse is the least surveyed of the different types of violence in low-income countries,” said Sleap.   The report, by the World Health Organization and UN agencies, reveals that of the 133 countries surveyed, two thirds do not have adult protective services in place to support older people subjected to elder abuse despite the growing global population of older people.   The number of older people vulnerable to elder abuse is predicted to rise with a growing global population of older people. Currently, there are more than 895 million people aged 60 and over, representing 12% of the global population. By 2030, this is projected to rise to 1.3 billion or 16%.   “A UN convention would take us a step closer to ensuring human rights are for everyone, at every stage of our lives,” said Sleap.   http://www.rightsofolderpeople.org/ http://www.helpage.org/   The statistics are compelling: around 700 million people are now older than 60, comprising about ten percent of the world’s population. By 2050, for the first time in human history there will be more people over 60 years of age globally, than there are children.   Opening the 2014 Social Forum, Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay welcomed its focus on the human rights of older people as timely, appropriate and challenging, given that as a group they have been largely neglected until very recently.   The human rights of older persons have depended upon an international legal regime that is fragmented, uneven and incomplete, she added, in contrast with the success of dedicated international protection regimes for specific groups, including women, children, and persons with disabilities.   “We have found that articulation of dedicated instruments laying [out] the specific rights of certain groups can be of invaluable assistance in focusing world attention – and action – on key groups at risk”, Pillay noted.   There must be a particular focus on ageism and age discrimination, the High Commissioner said, expressing concern that the older persons risk being stereotyped as non-productive and irrelevant.   Participation, too, is a fundamental right for this group, she said, along with access to an adequate standard of living, employment and health care.   The High Commissioner also addressed the widespread but largely hidden problem of abuse, where older women in particular, often suffer neglect and violations, both physical and psychological.   A number of reports in recent years have detailed the abuses suffered by older persons and highlighted the policy gaps regarding their needs.   A 2011 report to the UN General Assembly described an inconsistent global response to protecting the human rights of older persons. Efforts on their behalf are scattered and insufficient, it concluded, and several areas were identified which require special attention, including: a dedicated international protection regime for older persons; explicitly prohibiting age-based discrimination age; ensuring participation in policy making and political life; legislating to prevent discrimination in the work-place and extending social protection; ensuring appropriate health care and services for older persons; improving access to and the standard of long-term care; addressing violence against older people, especially women; and preventing the financial exploitation of older persons.   These conclusions were supported by participants at a Human Rights Council consultation in 2013 who found that a number of human rights issues particularly relevant to older persons have “not been given sufficient attention either in the wording of existing human rights instruments or in the practice of human rights bodies and mechanisms”.   However, some progress is to be noted. The President of the Human Rights Council, Baudelaire Ndong, in his address to the Forum, drew attention to the creation of the open-ended Working Group on the rights of older persons, the recent inclusion of the rights of older persons in the agenda of the Human Rights Council and the creation and imminent appointment of an Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.   The open ended Working Group, established by the UN General Assembly, is seeking consensus on a new international instrument specifically dedicated to the promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of older persons. Agreement is some way off. Some States favor the proposal for a new Convention; others are proposing that the challenges presented by the demographic shift are best addressed through a more effective implementation of existing mechanisms.   The Social Forum is an annual event established by the Human Rights Council to enable an ongoing dialogue between the United Nations and a range of actors, including civil society and grass roots organisations.   Many of the participants at the 2014 Forum echoed the High Commissioner’s views stressing the importance of a dedicated human rights instrument to clarify the human rights of older persons and strengthen accountability on the part of governments.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/RightsOfOlderPersons.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15152&LangID=E http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/SForum/Pages/SForumIndex.aspx   The United Nations Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, calls on all States to ensure that the concerns of older persons are reflected in the post-2015 development agenda in a cross-cutting manner.   On occasion of the 24th UN International Day of Older Persons, Ms. Kornfeld-Matte urges Governments around the world to promote full inclusion of older persons in society by combatting ageism, age discrimination and stigmatization.   “We can turn a blind eye to many issues as if they do not concern us. But getting old is part of life and we will all pay the price for our inaction.   Today there are around 700 million persons aged 60 years and over and it is estimated that this figure will double by 2025 and will reach nearly two billion by 2050 - the vast majority of them in the developing world. By 2050, older persons will constitute 20 per cent of the global population.   A demographic revolution is underway and we cannot afford to leave behind millions of older persons. Age, as well as gender and where people live, affect the enjoyment of human rights by older persons, who are often stigmatized as ‘non-productive’ or ‘irrelevant’.   I call on all States to combat ageism, age discrimination and stigmatization, which are among the obstacles older persons face in the enjoyment of their rights, in order to achieve and sustain the inclusion of older persons in society.   Today, on the International Day of Older Persons, I urge all Governments to ensure that the concerns of older persons are reflected in the post-2015 development agenda in a cross-cutting manner.   The post-2015 development agenda presents a unique opportunity to ensure a rights-based approach to older persons and can help changing attitudes and perceptions from older persons being considered recipients of welfare to rights holders with responsibilities.   Ageing is not an affliction, it is an opportunity to make use of resources acquired over the life course, and older persons all around the world make significant contributions to society.”   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/IE/Pages/IEOlderPersons.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/OlderPersons/Pages/OlderPersonsIndex.aspx http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49573#.VIoiPcnOY04   Global demographic shift to an ageing world presents a major challenge to humanitarian response. (HelpAge International)   The global demographic shift to an ageing world presents a major challenge to humanitarian response and preparedness in the future.   Population ageing is transforming nations. Today, about 12.5 per cent of the world’s population is aged 60 or more. In just 10 years’ time, the number of older people will surpass 1 billion and by 2050 – less than 40 years away – there will be 2 billion older people accounting for more than one-fifth of the global population. Older populations themselves are also ageing, with the size of the “oldest old” population (aged 80 and over) increasing faster than that of the older population as a whole. In 2000, for the first time, there were more people over the age of 60 than children under 5. And by 2050 there will be more people aged 60 or over than children under 15.   Far from affecting only higher-income countries, population ageing is happening fastest in developing countries where people are more at risk from natural and man-made disasters and have fewer resources to prepare for and recover from them. Currently, more than two-thirds of older people live in developing countries. By 2050, this will be four-fifths. We therefore face a world where rapidly growing numbers of older people will be highly exposed to the risk of humanitarian crises.   This situation creates unprecedented challenges in humanitarian emergencies, challenges which the humanitarian community has been slow to realise and address. For example, health interventions often fail to recognise the risks faced by older people affected by non-communicable diseases (NCD), for whom interruptions in treatment can prove fatal. Research in Jordan and Lebanon found that 54% of older refugees were affected by one or more NCD. MSF has further identified those Syrian refugees affected by NCDs as the silent casualties of war – those dying from manageable diseases.   In the nutrition sector, older people are almost entirely excluded from nutrition assessment and response activities including supplementary and therapeutic feeding. HelpAge nutrition assessments in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, in Chad and in Ethiopia all found significant levels of malnutrition amongst older people. In less technical areas, evidence from HelpAge programmes shows that in recurrent emergencies, even small low-cost modifications that would enable older people’s access (e.g. separate queue at distribution points, home delivery of relief goods or ramps and grab rails in WASH facilities) are rarely implemented by humanitarian agencies.   Similarly too often there is a lack of consideration of older people’s needs and capacities in disaster risk assessment and the development of mitigation and preparedness planning. Risk management must include the identification, monitoring and anticipation of threats specific to older people and other potentially vulnerable individuals. Specific actions are needed to reduce the vulnerabilities of highly vulnerable people with commitments from all stakeholders to an inclusive approach to disaster management and humanitarian response.   The exclusion of older people and other marginalised groups from humanitarian programming is viewed by many as seriously undermining the overall efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian operations and may constitute a breach of the principle of impartiality. Furthermore, disregard for age considerations is in contrast to the rights-based approach adopted by large parts of the humanitarian community and reflected in initiatives such as the SPHERE standards and the Red Cross NGO Code of Conduct.   * HelpAge International"s Global AgeWatch Index ranks countries by how well their ageing populations are faring. It is based on four domains that are key enablers of older people"s wellbeing: income, health, capability and enabling environment.   http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/ Visit the related web page
	Children"s environmental health: a critical challenge of our time by Frederica Perera The Lancet, Columbia Center for Children"s Environmental Health   In studying a cohort of inner city children in New York City, my colleagues and I are finding that many of the children were exposed prenatally to various air pollutants, pesticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and metals.   By age 7 years, 25% of the children were overweight or obese, more than 25% had a diagnosis of asthma, and 15% had experienced delayed cognitive or motor development that could affect their ability to learn.   One boy in the study is affected by asthma and developmental problems. Biomarkers in his cord blood showed measurable exposure to a number of toxic chemicals. But he comes from a low-income family and with that goes a host of nutritional and social stressors known to play a part in childhood illness and developmental problems.   Is there a connection between each of these prenatal exposures and his poor health? What about the combination of these insults?   As researchers in children"s environmental health we are challenged to unravel the mystery and share our knowledge because the stakes for the children are so very high.   Now, for the eager student, physician, researcher, or policy maker, there is a landmark textbook on the many facets of children"s environmental health edited by two eminent pioneers in the field, Philip Landrigan and Ruth Etzel. Both are paediatricians and have long experience in bridging the worlds of research and policy.   The Textbook of Children"s Environmental Health is timely and provides a comprehensive and informative overview of this discipline.   Recent statistics tell us that, by some indicators, the health of children worldwide is worsening, with serious implications for their future wellbeing and that of society as a whole.   In recent decades, rates of developmental disabilities, asthma, obesity, diabetes, and certain cancers in children have increased. As with all diseases, their aetiology is complex, requiring the concerted efforts of not only epidemiologists, statisticians, and exposure scientists but also molecular biologists and geneticists to tease out the various factors involved.   In addition to genetics, environmental factors, including toxic contaminants and pollutants in the air, water, and food, nutritional deficits, and psychosocial stress, have emerged as important causal factors, capable of interacting with genetic predisposition and with each other to inflict harm.   The co-occurrence of such factors in low-income and minority populations has resulted in shocking disparities in child health and development that are only now beginning to attract the attention they have long deserved.   The overarching environmental threat of climate change, resulting from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels, has already inflicted disproportionate suffering on the health of poor children and is endangering their future wellbeing.   Children bear the brunt of the failure of governments to address environmental threats: according to WHO, 36% of all childhood deaths globally are attributable to environmental causes and 43% of the total environmental burden of disease falls upon children younger than 5 years.   The solution to this problem is the integration of social and environmental policies centred on the protection and nurturing of the developing child.   There is mounting interest in understanding the contribution of environmental contaminants because by definition these are preventable once identified.   A growing wave of longitudinal studies of pregnant women and children points to the fetal developmental window and early childhood as particularly susceptible to the multiple adverse effects of toxic exposures, stress, and nutritional deficits.   There are now many examples of the fetus, infant, and young child being affected by low levels of environmental toxicants, inadequate nutrition, and stress that have no apparent effects in adults.   This is because, in early life, detoxification and repair pathways are immature, and the complicated, rapid process of early development is easily disrupted, often with lasting consequences.   There has also been much progress in understanding the mechanisms by which environmental exposures can lead to disease, not only by inflicting genetic damage that results in alterations in the structure and sequence of genes, but also by dysregulating the epigenetic programming of gene expression during critical developmental stages.   Evidence is emerging that environmental exposures that occur prenatally can affect health and disease over the life course and even over future generations.   This is a promising moment for translation of scientific evidence to preventive policy, starting with meaningful reform of laws that regulate toxic chemicals and pesticides.   Landrigan and Etzel state at the outset of the textbook that “The goal of research is evidence-based blueprints for the prevention of disease and the protection of children"s health”.   Accordingly, in addition to focusing on the generation of rigorous scientific data, the Textbook of Children"s Environmental Health constantly reminds us of the importance of translation of scientific data to practice, advocacy, and regulatory and other strategies for prevention.   This challenge is underscored at the outset and repeated throughout the book with the sobering statistics that, for example, there is no information on developmental toxicity or potential to harm infants and children on about 80% of the 3000 chemicals produced or imported into the USA; neurodevelopmental disorders affect one in every six children in the USA, similar to rates in other industrially developed countries; children from lower income and minority groups in the USA bear the greatest burden of asthma; the global prevalence of overweight and obesity in preschool-age children has nearly doubled in the past 20 years; and the cost of environmentally attributable disease in children in the USA in 2008 alone was US$76·6 billion whilst the corresponding estimate for the European Union was $70·9 billion.   The textbook takes the reader from the chemical, nutritional, social, and built environments in which children are conceived and develop through to the various methods involved in generating the data in these areas and also to a review of the chemicals associated with chronic diseases and neurodevelopmental impairment in childhood.   The list includes the best characterised toxicants, such as lead, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, and arsenic, as well as those more recently studied such as organophosphate pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, the volatile organic chemicals benzene and formaldehyde, and the endocrine-disrupting chemicals bisphenol-A and phthalates.   The book"s contributors assess the nature and quality of the evidence linking these exposures to specific diseases and disorders in childhood—in some cases definitive, in others suggestive. The final chapters describe the need for environmental justice and strategies to prevent and control diseases of environmental origin in children.   These strategies include early identification by health professionals, changes in public policy to reduce or eliminate toxic exposures, global treaties that are essential to control the fundamentally transnational problems of pollution and climate change, and advocacy informed by science. By covering the many facets of children"s environmental health, this textbook will help to inform and engage participants in this most critical issue of our time.   * Dr Frederica Perera, is a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Columbia Center for Children"s Environmental Health. http://ccceh.org/ Visit the related web page
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