Help Age International

Our mission is to promote the wellbeing and inclusion of older women and men, and reduce poverty and discrimination in later life.

HelpAge International is a global network of organisations promoting the rights of all older people to lead dignified, healthy and secure lives. Our role is to work with older women and men in low and middle-income countries for better services and policies and for changes in behaviours and attitudes of individuals and societies towards old age.

Our vision is a world in which all older people fulfill their potential to lead dignified, active, healthy and secure lives.

HelpAge has four hubs across the world, one of which is the Asia Pacific Regional Office located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There are over 140 network members, globally. In Asia Pacific, there are 35 network members in 17 countries.

For more than 30 years, HelpAge International in Asia Pacific has been working with network members in the region to implement projects, conduct research, develop capacity and raise awareness on ageing issues.

In China, HelpAge first began its assistance to Chinese institutions responsible for ageing through a training programme under its Asia Training Centre on Ageing. Since 2003, HelpAge has implemented EU-funded field projects in three provinces with local authorities, and has also supported the UNFPA country programme in China and other initiatives in partnership with the China National Working Commission on Ageing (CNWCA) and the Ageing China Development Centre (ACDC).

Our plan is to continue supporting ACDC’s field work in Western China focusing on older people associations (OPAs) and long-term care, while offering assistance to the national government to respond to policy challenges emerging from China’s rapid ageing. ACDC currently has projects in poor areas of rural Shaanxi, and Gansu Provinces, which strengthen community-based associations of older people to identify and address their own needs, particularly related to income security, health and care.