An international public call has been launched as part of a WHO-led initiative to develop an intervention accelerator to speed up the development of effective interventions for abuse of older people in community and institutional settings within low-, middle- and high-income countries. The call aims to identify interventions that are promising to address the abuse of older people, towards further evaluation and scaling up. Contributions will help create a catalogue of interventions that can be analysed and later prioritised by governments, international and civil society organizations, or donors.

Objectives

Currently, there are no evidence-based interventions to prevent and respond to abuse of older people. Despite the scale and severity of abuse of older people, the global response to abuse of older people remains weak, and the issue has received limited resources and attention from international and national organizations. The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing is an opportunity to work together to address this situation, and this international public call aims to take another step towards identifying proven interventions to address, reduce, and prevent the abuse of older people.

Scope

This call is for all interventions that aim to address the abuse of older people, which has the following definition: the abuse of older people, or elder abuse, is a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person (i.e., people 60 years and over). The main forms of elder abuse generally recognized, and which can occur in the community and institutional settings are physical, psychological, financial/material, sexual abuse and neglect, systemic/organizational abuse, and poly-victimization. This definition of abuse of older people includes intimate partner violence perpetrated against a person 60 years or older. This call is also for interventions that target more than one age group (e.g. children and older people).