The Campaign to End Loneliness launches today, 1 February 2011.
The campaign, a collaborative effort between Independent Age, Age
UK Oxfordshire, Counsel and Care, and WRVS and funded by the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, aims to fight loneliness and
isolation in older people.
Although research suggests that loneliness is a greater threat to
health than obesity, and as bad as lifelong smoking, fewer than 1
in 5 people have ever seen or heard information about loneliness as
a health risk, and fewer than 1 in 3 who work in health and social
care professions have.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risks of loneliness
and to make sure they are treated as a serious risk to public
health.
A report, Safeguarding the Convoy, is also published today to
accompany the campaign, and calls for others to join and take
action to end loneliness in order to future proof forthcoming
generations of older people against it.
Visit http://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk/ for
more information or to download a copy of the report.
