On the ground: Asia

India has recorded well over 18 million coronavirus cases and a devastating 205,000 deaths (April 29 2021). A deadly second wave has seen the disease spread rapidly from cities to small rural towns. Health services are becoming increasingly overwhelmed, with oxygen supplies running out and people struggling to receive the care they need.

Since last year we have been supporting our two partners, HelpAge India and GRAVIS, to help older people at risk of COVID-19. We recently conducted a survey of older people we support, to understand how COVID-19 has impacted them. In some areas, more than 70% of older people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods but lockdown severely affected this income. Older people told us that they needed food as well as health and sanitation support, especially as they were under additional strain as many of their adult children lost their jobs in the city in the first lockdown and returned home.

Our COVID-19 response has included:

• Caring for 2,500 bedbound and destitute older people through trained community volunteers.
• Providing livelihood support to 7,000 poor and disadvantaged older people.
• Distributing over 6,000 monthly family survival kits, including food, masks and soap.
• Conducting health check-up drives within communities - monitoring older people’s temperatures, oxygen saturation level, and health conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
• Supporting primary health care services through mobile health clinics, referring those patients who need further medical attention to a hospital.
• Raising community awareness through posters and guides in accessible formats and local dialects
• Supporting older people to reach vaccination centres.
• Strengthening digital literacy among older people as social distancing continues. This supports people in gaining access to services and connectivity within communities while reducing the risk of transmission.

In light of the current situation in India, we are scaling up our work with local partners, to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in the communities in which they work.

More on India's deadly second wave

Donate to our India COVID-19 Appeal

Read about our response in Bangladesh and the world's largest refugee camp, Cox's Bazar, on our country in focus page.

Bangladesh in focus

Age International has been working in Cambodia as part of a project to improve the well-being of older people, their families and their communities in Asia.

As coronavirus spreads, all meetings and group activities have been cancelled or postponed and we are working to raise awareness of COVID-19 and its prevention to older people. This includes training staff on reliable sources of information and highlighting the dangers of fake news. Community awareness includes coronavirus symptoms, how it spreads and its prevention.

Staff have been asked to work from home and been provided with hand sanitiser and guidelines on proper personal hygiene. Those who visit older people in the community have also been given masks.

If an older person is treated for coronavirus we are ensuring that they receive the best care and support by liaising with their families or the government and that their families are psychologically supported.

We’ve been working in Indonesia as part of our emergency response to the 2018 earthquake and tsunami. COVID-19 is now a huge threat to the older people affected by this disaster and we are working hard to combat the disease.

We are providing hygiene kits for older people and their caregivers. The kits will be distributed door to door and contain soap, antiseptic wipes, hand sanitizer and vitamins. Those who are delivering the kits are being provided with self-protection including masks, hand sanitizer and antiseptic wipes.

As hand washing is essential throughout the COVID-19 crisis, portable washbasins are being installed in public places including Mosques, Churches and Village offices across high-risk villages in the Central Sulawesi area.

Older people are being provided with information about COVID-19 including how to properly wash hands, nutrition advice on healthy foods and more. This information is being distributed in public areas including through Older People’s Associations.

COVID-19 will affect businesses and the global economy and it is anticipated that older people will face difficulties in getting their primary needs. We have re-directed funds from existing programmes that can no longer continue due to social distancing, to directly provide food and homecare for older people.

This will ensure that older people get the necessary medicine and meals at a time when they may not be able to leave the house in order to protect themselves from COVID-19. An estimated one months’ worth of food will be provided by volunteers to nearly 500 households.

When volunteers deliver food they will also give guidance on physical distancing. Home care support will be delivered by doctors and nurses to older people who are chronically ill and need medicine and assistance. To protect older people and staff, protective equipment, such as masks and gloves will be provided to those delivering the care and driving.

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Older people in Myanmar often have insufficient and unreliable incomes and poor access to healthcare; something that was already problematic due to the prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and cancer. With the first coronavirus cases in Myanmar confirmed on 23rd March, thousands of older people's lives are now at risk if the outbreak is not kept under control.

To help older people protect themselves, volunteers have distributed information to older people, people with disabilities and their family members on how to help prevent the spread of coronavirus and stay healthy during self-quarantine at home. We have also created banners to share information on how to stay active and mentally healthy while isolated and communities are being contacted by telephone and provided with essential information on COVID-19 prevention and quarantine. This activity will benefit over 28,000 households reaching nearly 127,000 people across 120 villages.

We will also raise awareness on coronavirus prevention to 280 volunteers, older people and 5,000 people with disabilities to help stop the spread of the virus during the collection of electronic cash transfers in addition to 450 community members including older people, people with disabilities, female-headed households, and children.

By sharing information on coronavirus prevention, it will help stop the spread across at-risk communities.

Millions of older people in Pakistan live in poverty. Most Pakistanis rely on agriculture and informal work throughout their lives. This leaves very few with pensions or a reliable income when they reach older age, leaving them dependent on their families who often struggle to provide for them. Coronavirus has exacerbated this situation, forcing Pakistan into lockdown for a time, with older people expressing worry about how they would meet their families’ daily needs of food, medicine, and rents.

The spread of the virus is an added pressure to a country where health issues are already prominent. Staff are often inadequately equipped to provide care – they do not understand older people's health issues, and there are no geriatric specialists who can input.

In February, before the first case of coronavirus reached Pakistan, we developed and shared a flyer with 167 older people in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to share information on COVID-19 and what precautions to take. The flyer was also widely disseminated via social media, networks of national and international organizations, staff members and partners in the country. To reach as many people as possible we also have display banners and messages on the radio to further share information around coronavirus.

When the virus started to spread in March, we developed another flyer containing information specifically for older people. This was shared on social media, sent via WhatsApp to Older People’s Association representatives, Civil societies networks, media, government officials and more. This was widely recognized as the first-ever material specifically for older people in the local language.

Our partner HelpAge International carried out a rapid needs assessment in Pakistan on the impact of coronavirus on older people and their communities to better understand the challenges and needs of older people in the country and we are working closely with other organisations in Pakistan to share knowledge around the disease. All programme staff have all been given personal protective equipment including hand sanitizer and masks and 50 Older People’s Associations have received hygiene kits and masks.

We recognise the negative impact this is having on older people’s mental health, from isolation to anxiety around health and financial wellbeing so older people are also being offered online psychosocial support.

Older people are being disproportionately affected in the Philippines considering that they constitute only 8% of the total population. As of the end of March over 73% of COVID-19 related deaths in the Philippines were that of older people.

Older people are facing difficulties in accessing basic services as current quarantine rules prohibit older people to go out even for buying basic needs. This, in turn, means that they are also dealing with a loss of income and worrying about their health needs as access to food and medicine is so limited.

We have been raising public awareness around COVID-19 through social media, newspapers and calling for action from agencies managing the crisis. 

Thailand was one of the earliest COVID-19 hotspots outside of China, with a state of emergency announced in January and lockdown measures following soon after. Thailand has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world, and many older people there live in rural areas, with their children travelling for work and sending money home to support their families. And with only a small pension available, many older people also make a living from informal work including agricultural work. The lockdown measures meant older people were advised to not leave their homes, informal work ceased, and many families were unable to send money, leaving older people without an income.

Our partner in Thailand, FOPDEV, was able to act quickly with a “COVID-19 rapid response”, sending volunteers to visit older people, many of whom are poor and disabled, in their own homes and provide them with packages of food and essentials to ensure they didn’t go hungry due to an inability to afford or access food. Masks were also distributed, and the packages contained hygiene items such as soap and detergent to enable older people to stay safe and follow the virus prevention guidance.

We have worked in Vietnam since 1997 and continue to help older people throughout the coronavirus pandemic, integrating COVID-19 activities into our existing programme activity.

Our work in preventing the spread of COVID-19 

In Vietnam we have carried out COVID-19 awareness training and provided masks and hand sanitisers to older people. To support this awareness raising, simple age friendly prevention messages have been developed to maximise understanding and slow the spread of the disease. These messages are being communicated through posters and videos distributed online.

Our frontline staff have all been provided with information and equipment including masks and hand sanitiser. As the virus spreads we have postponed community activities and given staff the option to work from home.

We are distributing emergency supplies and conducting home visits, with community-based care providers receiving training and support around the new virus.

Read Mrs My's story