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Haiti - Focus on the elderly

More than 200,000 elderly people were affected by the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti Nancy Palus/IRIN
More than 200,000 elderly people were affected by the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti
    PORT-AU-PRINCE

    More than three months after the earthquake, aid workers say elderly people in Haiti are not receiving the attention they need. HelpAge International says special attention must be paid to older people - not just to their health needs but also to the unique contribution they could make to the relief effort and society. Some 800,000 Haitians - about 7 percent of the population - are over 60; some 200,000 have been affected by the disaster, according to HelpAge.



    Private and public nursing homes do exist in the capital, Port-au-Prince, but many were badly damaged by the earthquake and lack the capacity to absorb older people discharged from hospitals or needing special care after the disaster.









     View the Slideshow

    This slideshow portrays a dozen elderly people whose lives have been turned upside down by the earthquake.



    np/am

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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