At the invitation of the Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman, on Monday, December 6, the representative of the Red Cross of Serbia Natasa Todorovic participated in a conference entitled "Support to Victims of Gender-Based Violence - Improving Comprehensive Protection".

The representative of the Red Cross of Serbia spoke about violence against older women, which is a public health problem, a problem related to gender-based violence and human rights violations. There are various challenges in defining this type of violence, but also a problem is the lack of research on violence against older women and services aimed at older women victims of violence.

When we talk about violence against older women, we must be aware that it is often continuous violence throughout the life cycle, and factors such as lack of education, financial insecurity, lack of health and social services accumulate over the years.

There is certainly urgent need to collect and analyze gender and age data to provide understanding of the realities and experiences of older women and men.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastating impact on older persons cannot be ignored. Global data show us that among women who died from COVID-19, 87% were 60 or older. Tragically, the high number of deaths could have been smaller if adequate services had existed and the human rights of older persons had been protected.