SWITZERLAND – More than 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, a neurological disorder that robs them of their memory and costs the world US$1.3 trillion a year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
The progressive condition can be caused by stroke, brain injury or Alzheimer’s disease and with populations ageing, the number of sufferers is projected to rise to 78 million by 2030 and 139 million by 2050, the WHO said in a report.
Yet only one in four countries has a national policy in place to support dementia patients and their families, it said, urging governments to step up to the public health challenge.
Half of these countries are in Europe, with the remainder split between other regions in the world.
“Yet even in Europe, many plans are expiring or have already expired, indicating a need for renewed commitment from governments,” the WHO said.
The organisation’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “dementia robs millions of people of their memories, independence and dignity, but it also robs the rest of us of the people we know and love.”
“The world is failing people with dementia, and that hurts all of us,” he was quoted as saying in a statement.
Health ministers agreed on a global action plan in 2015, including early diagnosis and providing care, but are falling short on meeting targets by 2025, it said. Dementia mostly affects those aged 65 and over, but can also touch people in their 30s and 40s.
There is no treatment, but studies have shown that some 40 percent of cases could be avoided or delayed by a healthy lifestyle. Risk factors include depression, low education, social isolation and lack of cognitive stimulation.
Katrin Seeher, from the WHO’s mental health and substance use department, told a news briefing that more than 60 percent of people living with dementia were in low and middle-income countries.
“We especially need to reduce the gap that exists between high-income and low and middle-income countries, and between urban and rural areas,” she said.
Alarmingly, low- and middle-income countries are also less well prepared than high-income countries to provide services and care for people with dementia.
Medication, hygiene products and household adjustments for dementia patients are more accessible in wealthy countries, which have a greater level of reimbursement than in lower-income countries, the report said.
Dementia affects memory, orientation, learning capacity, language, judgement, and the ability to perform everyday tasks.
Would you like to get regular updates of such news articles? Subscribe to our HealthCare Africa News, email newsletters, which provide the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s health, pharma and biotech industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE
