WOMEN'S UN REPORT NETWORK - WUNRN OLDER WOMEN & THE RIGHT TO HEALTH United Nations Human Rights Council September 26

1. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® WOMEN'S UN REPORT NETWORK - WUNRN OLDER WOMEN & THE RIGHT TO HEALTH United Nations Human Rights Council September 26, 2011 Geneva, Switzerland

3. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® Who is the Older Woman, Ageing Woman, Elderly Woman? Photographer - Brenda Paik Sunoo

4. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - OLDER PERSONS Currently, there is no United Nations standard numerical criterion, but the UN agreed cutoff is 60+ years to refer to the older population. For a woman, perception and experience of age, and of health, vary widely, as well as her health care, health services, and health traditions.

5. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® PANAMA - SAN BLAS ISLANDS - KUNA WOMAN

6. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® GENERATIONS OF WOMEN

7. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® UNIVERSAL STANDARDS ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 25 (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Article 12 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. 2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: (a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child; (b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene; (c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases; (d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) Article 5 In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights:  […] (e) Economic, social and cultural rights, in particular: […] (iv) The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services; […] Constitution of the World Health Organization […] The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition. […]

8. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN®

9. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® CEDAW COMMITTEE GENERAL RECOMMENDATION ON OLDER WOMEN RIGHTS

10. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® WHAT IS THE RIGHT TO HEALTH? UN-WHO FACTS Key aspects of the right to health • The right to health is an inclusive right.  The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the body responsible for monitoring the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, calls these the “underlying determinants of health”. * Safe drinking water and adequate sanitation; * Safe food; * Adequate nutrition and housing; * Healthy working and environmental conditions; * Health-related education and information; * Gender equality. The right to health contains entitlements. * The right to a system of health protection providing equality of opportunity for everyone to enjoy the highest attainable level of health; * The right to prevention, treatment and control of diseases; * The right to prevention, treatment * Access to essential medicines;

11. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® OLDER, POOR WOMEN OF INDIA

12. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® Right to Health - Women - UN "Women are affected by many of the same health conditions as men, but women experience them differently. The prevalence of poverty and economic dependence among women, their experience of violence, gender bias in the health system and society at large, discrimination on the grounds of race and other factors, the limited power many women have over their sexual and reproductive lives, and their lack of incluence in decision making, are social realities which have an adverse impact on their health. So women face particular health issues and particular forms of discrimination, with some groups, including refugee or internally displaced women, women in slums and suburban settings, indigenous and rural women, women with disabilities, or women living with HIV/AIDS, facing multiple forms of discrimination, barriers and marginalization in addition to gender discrimination. Both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, require the elimination of discrimination against women in health care, as well as guarantees of equal access for women and men to health care services.".....

13. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® Photo of Older Woman in Hospital

14. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® Older Persons & The Right to Health - UN SR Study - Women

15. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® European Year on Active Ageing & Generations Solidarity - Women EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR EUROPEAN YEAR 2012 ON ACTIVE AGEING & SOLIDARITY BETWEEN GENERATIONS [European Parliament, Brussels, 15 August 2011] Maintaining the vitality of older people, enhancing their involvement in society and removing barriers between generations should be the main aims of European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations in 2012.

16. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® FOR MANY OLDER WOMEN, MEETING HEALTH NEEDS, ACCESSING HEALTH CARE, CAN BE A HUGE CHALLENGE And including living in today's world with: *Compounded and protracted crises and recessions *Dramatic increase in the ageing population *Rising poverty of older women *Absence or decrease of social supports and benefits *Separation of families, migration, displacement *Social fixation on beauty,  youth, money, good health,  fitness, marketing-advertising-commodification of women and girls *Increase in widows, especially in countries of conflict   *Complexities of care for elderly, ill, and disabled

17. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® HOMELESS OLDER WOMAN Photo - Trekearth - By Shamay

18. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® Intersectionalities of Issues - Older Women & Right to Health *Poverty *Health - Physical & Mental *Nutrition/Malnutrition *Land, Housing/Shelter   Land-Grabbing, Forced Evictions   Homelessness - Slums *Climate Change Issues *Natural Disasters *War & Conflict *Refugee Status *Internal Displacement *Safety - Violence *Migration *Minority & Indigenous Issues *Culture & Traditions *Widows Discrimination *Accusations as Witches

19. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® ELDERLY DISABLED WOMAN IN WHEELCHAIR

20. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® EU - European Commission EU - Immigrant Women & Integration in Ageing Societies

21. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® GHANA OLDER WOMAN IN CAMP FOR WOMEN ACCUSED OF WITCHERY

22. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® ARGENTINA - GRANDMOTHERS & MOTHERS OF "THE DISAPPEARED" CALL FOR TRUTHS, JUSTICE, RIGHTS Argentina Correspondent, Marie Trigona – Women News Network – WNN

23. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® SOMALIA - OLDER FEMININE FACE OF WAR Michael Kamber for The New York Times How does it feel to be an old woman, alone, in Somalia. You have known violence and conflict in Somalia most of your life. Now, your only daughter and her children have left, to try to walk to a camp in Kenya, to survive the famine, drought, fighting. You are not able to walk any distance. There is no one to care for you. Tears! Tears!

24. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® IRAQ - OLDER WOMEN FRONTLINES OF WAR - HEALTH? © Panos Pictures / M. Saman

25. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® ITALY - EARTHQUAKE - OLDER WOMEN Italy - Hundreds of L'Aquila's 80,000 residents gathered in the central Piazza Duomo, where nuns from a local convent attended to frightened residents, the ANSA news agency reported. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

26. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® USA AGEING WOMAN COPING WITH BREAST CANCER Printed With Permission "Fatigue comes over me like a fog.  My bed has become a nest of safety, and sleep is my relief."

27. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® OLDER WOMEN IN PRISON - HEALTH ISSUES

28. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® MOROCCO - ELDERLY NOMADIC WOMAN - ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE?

29. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® CAREGIVING - WHEN YOU ARE YOUR MOTHER'S KEEPER

30. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® INDIGENOUS WOMEN - RIGHT TO HEALTH

31. Women’s UN Report Network WUNRN® Older Woman's Voice I am an older, an elderly, woman The lines on my face are etching of the seasons of my life. I am not pretty anymore. My hair is grey, my skin sagging, In a world fixated on youth and beauty. I am frailer now, more fragile, more often ill. I cannot afford all the medical care I need. I want to tell my children stories of my life. But they are busy, not so interested in my legacy. I am lonely. My husband, also old, has dementia. I feel isolated, ignored, forgotten. What has happened to the respect for elders, To the valuing of life from cradle to grave? Where is social justice to care for old women And provide for their special needs and rights? I am an older woman, but I am very much alive. Hear me, care about me, help me, treasure me. WUNRN