The United Nations World Data Forum recognises the deplorable state of data on older people and COVID-19

Peter Lloyd-Sherlock

The Global Platform has been one of very few voices of protest against the failure of many countries to provide age-disaggregated data on COVID-19 an older people, as well as the very poor quality of the limited data that are published (https://corona-older.com/data-and-tools/).

As part of this campaign, in October we posted a blog about the lack of reference to this issue by the United Nations World Data Forum, “Left even further behind”: The United Nations World Data Forum and COVID-19 data ageism (https://corona-older.com/2020/10/18/left-even-further-behind-the-united-nations-world-data-forum-and-covid-19-data-ageism/). We shared the blog with UNWDF and, to their great credit, they responded by inviting us to contribute to their own series.

You can now access this new paper here: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/undataforum/blog/Older-people-and-age-disaggregated-COVID-19-mortality/

Reliable, public age-disaggregated COVID-19 data are essential both for our general understanding of the pandemic, and for monitoring its direct and indirect impacts on people of different ages. They remain woefully inadequate, especially in low and middle-income countries. Kudos to UNWDF for supporting our campaign for urgent action.