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BY JULIO P. YAP JR.
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THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) has warned that as the global population ages, the number of people living with dementia is expected to triple from 50 million to 152 million by 2050.
Dementia is an umbrella term for several diseases that are mostly progressive, affecting memory, other cognitive abilities and behaviour and interfering significantly with a person’s ability to maintain the activities of daily living.
Women are more often affected than men. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 60 percent to 70 percent of cases.
The other common types are vascular dementia and mixed forms.
According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, nearly 10 million people develop dementia each year, 6 million of them in low- and middle-income countries.
“The suffering that results is enormous. This is an alarm call: we must pay greater attention to this growing challenge and ensure that all people living with dementia, wherever they live, get the care that they need,” Ghebreyesus says.
The estimated annual global cost of dementia is $818 billion, equivalent to more than one-percent of global gross domestic product.
The total cost includes direct medical costs, social care and informal care (loss of income of carers).
By year 2030, the cost is expected to have more than doubled, to $2 trillion, a cost that could undermine social and economic development and overwhelm health and social services, including long-term care systems.
The Global Dementia Observatory, a web-based platform launched by WHO, will track progress on the provision of services for people with dementia and for those who care for them, both within countries and globally.
It will monitor the presence of national policy and plans, risk reduction measures and infrastructure for providing care and treatment.
Information on surveillance systems and disease burden data is also included.
It was learned from Dr. Tarun Dua of WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse that this is the first global monitoring system for dementia that includes such a comprehensive range of data.
To date, WHO has collected data from 21 countries of all income levels. By the end of 2018, it is expected that 50 countries will be contributing data.
Initial results indicate that a high proportion of countries submitting data are already taking action in areas such as planning, dementia awareness and dementia-friendliness, and provision of support and training for carers, who are very often family members.
All of these activities are recommended by WHO in the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025.
The plan provides a comprehensive blueprint for action, in areas including: dementia awareness and dementia-friendliness; reducing the risk of dementia; diagnosis, treatment and care; research and innovation; and support for dementia carers.
Previous studies suggest that as many as 90 percent of people with dementia in low- and middle-income countries are unaware of their status.
Research is needed not only to find a cure for dementia, but also in the areas of prevention, risk reduction, diagnosis, treatment and care. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com)/PN
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