Global Dementia Epidemic

Imagine watching someone you love lose their mind? Day by day pieces of the person who you love, slip away. The body is the same, but the mind is leaving. The terror that moment you realize that the person you built your life with is disappearing inside. Praying that the day would never come when your mom, dad, aunt, uncle or best friend turns to you and doesn't have any idea who you are. The sadness that rushes through you as you see the fear in their face. You feel helpless; but are you really?

Do you even know if your country is preparing for the global dementia epidemic?  Only 13 countries are currently implementing a national dementia plan. All governments should initiate a national dialogue regarding future provision and financing of long term care. There is an urgent need for a collaborative, global action plan for governments, industry and non-profit organisations like Alzheimer associations.

In a policy brief launched today, Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) has announced that the number of people living with dementia worldwide in 2013 is now estimated at 44 million (estimated at 35 million in 2010), reaching 76 million in 2030 (66 million) and 135 million by 2050 (115 million).

Professor Martin Prince, from King's College London and author of the Policy Brief, says: "The governments of the world's richest nations are focusing today upon dementia. This is a global problem that is, increasingly, impacting on developing countries with limited resources and little time to develop comprehensive systems of social protection, health and social care. While we all hope for advances in treatment that could blunt the impact of the coming epidemic, we need to agree now to work together to close the diagnosis and treatment gap. Nobody should be left without access to support and care."    

The Policy Brief entitled 'The Global Impact of Dementia 2013-2050' reports a staggering 17% increase in global estimates of people living with dementia, compared to the original ADI estimates in the 2009 World Alzheimer's Report.

Although high income countries like all those in G8 have borne the brunt of the dementia epidemic, the disease is a global phenomenon. In the next few decades the global burden of the disease will shift inexorably to low and middle income countries with 71% of those with dementia living in lower and middle-income countries by 2050.

Marc Wortmann, Executive Director of ADI, comments, "At the eve of the G8 Dementia Summit in London, UK, it is not just the G8 countries, but all nations, that must commit to a sustained increase in dementia research."

Research must become a global priority if we are to improve the quality and coverage of care, find treatments that alter the course of the disease and identify more options for prevention. 

The full policy brief can be found here: http://www.alz.co.uk/G8policybrief