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Burkina Faso: A Review of Laws for Legal Protection of Older Persons (January 26, 2010)
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In Burkina Faso, older persons suffer from discrimination and violence, particularly older women, who are banished because people think they are witches. To solve this problem, some associations organized a workshop on January 22 to find solutions to improve the current laws that are not clear concerning the rights of older persons. Those associations based their suggestions on a study by a legal consultant and will pass their proposition on to the authorities.
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Aging Watch: Convention on Older Persons Has ‘Real Capacity for Change’ (February 1, 2010)
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The Madrid Plan on Ageing is a good start “but not enough” to fully protect the rights of the world’s older people, according to Maria Luz Melon, First Secretary of the Mission of Argentina to the United Nations. She advocates for an international convention on the rights of older persons. While a convention may be the “most ambitious” among the options being considered, it’s also the option “that has the real capacity for change,” she said.
Following the success of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Melon, on behalf of her Government, Argentina, is committed to bringing immediate awareness to global aging issues.
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US:
Better With Age? Seniors Report Spicy Sex Lives (January 27, 2010)
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New studies from the University of Chicago show optimistic findings about sex and aging. In a summary of the studies, there is relative similarity of sexual problems across age groups. Within the group that stays sexually active into old age, these people function at relatively the same level as sexually active people who are younger. The research also found that just as healthy sex contributes to good health in younger populations, the same is true for older persons as well.
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Report: Europe: Poverty Risks for Older People in EU Countries – An Update
(January 2010) |
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Report: Australia: Overweight Older Persons Have Lower Mortality Risk (February 2010)
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Authors of this Policy Brief provide the latest evidence on how EU countries differ in terms of poverty risks for older people (aged 65 years and over). EU-SILC data for 2008 show that, on average, older people face a higher poverty risk rate than the total population: the rate for older people was 19% as opposed to rate for the total population of 17%. In general, countries with low poverty risk rates for older people have a good social safety net, usually a basic pension (e.g, the Netherlands) and/or they offer strong redistribution of earnings-related contributory pension schemes in the form of minimum guaranteed pensions (e.g, Austria).
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Researchers detail in a new Australian study that overweight men and women aged 70-75 years have 13% less risk of dying than those who are normal weight. It also found that being sedentary doubled mortality risk across weight class and gender. The study shows that the World Health Organization’s standards for Body Mass Index, or the ratio of height to weight, for older people is overly restrictive. Overweight older people are not at a greater mortality risk than those who are a normal weight.
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Cambodia: Association to Unite Capital's Senior Citizens (January 29, 2010)
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The Ministry of Social Affairs has established Phnom Penh 's first Association for the Elderly, one of hundreds that have been set up nationwide to assist Cambodia's senior citizens. Members of the association are required to pay dues of 2,000 riels (about U.S. $0.50) per month, which are used to provide financial assistance to members who become sick or injured. “We wanted to establish this Association for the Elderly because it expresses that we are paying attention to the old people, not only in the province but also in the city,” said Dr. Pay Sambo, deputy director of the retirement and pensions department at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.
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United Kingdom: How to Tackle Pensioner Poverty (January 28, 2010)
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Although there has been a formidable decline in the number of pensioners living in poverty in the last ten years, there are still 2 million penurious pensioners. The government's system of 'means-tested benefits' is not effectively relieving the pensioned aged from their plight. The benefits are complicated and have not been easily accessed by some. A critical look at the means-tested system is necessary to abate the poverty of pensioners.
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