SIR - I am appealing to readers to join me in supporting Help the Aged in their new campaign Change Lives Now', which campaigns for better and more targeted aid to older people in developing countries and highlights the important and vital role older people have in society.

Globally, an estimated 15 million children have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic, and almost half of those children are entirely dependent on a grandparent for their care.

As the grandparents have little or no income, these children can miss out on proper education or health care, which is what they need to escape poverty.

Help the Aged is working in 31 developing countries and aims to change the lives of vulnerable older people, their dependants and even whole communities.

Visitors to the new animated website, www.changelivesnow.org.uk can understand how grandparents in developing countries are helping to ensure a whole generation are cared for and what they can do to help them now.

By joining the online petition calling for better and more targeted aid to older people, we can help achieve a valid and lasting change for the 100 million older people who survive on less than one dollar per day.

Liz Smith, Help the Aged, Pentonville Road, London