UN launches first global monitoring system for dementia

New York, December 8: The United Nations (UN) on Thursday launched the first global monitoring system for dementia. Notably, dementia is expected to affect 152 million people worldwide by 2050 which is triple to current 50 million amid the aging of the global population.

 

The United Nations health agency with an aim to curb dementia launched the first global monitoring system. Dementia includes Alzheimer’s disease and other types of memory loss and cognitive disabilities. Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a release said, “Nearly 10 million people develop dementia each year, six million of them in low- and middle-income countries.”

Tedros further said, “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.”

On the other side, the Global Dementia Observatory, a web-based platform, launched by WHO, can 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 also monitor the presence of national policy and plans, risk reduction measures and infrastructure for providing care and treatment.

However, WHO says that the annual global cost of dementia is estimated at $818 billion, equivalent to more than one percent of the global gross domestic product. The total cost includes direct medical costs, social care and loss of income of caregivers. By 2030, the cost is expected to more than double, to $2 trillion, a cost that could undermine social and economic development and overwhelm health and social services, including long-term care systems.

To date, WHO has collected data from 21 countries. By the end of 2018, it is expected that 50 countries will be contributing data. Of the countries reporting data so far, 81 percent have carried out a dementia awareness or risk reduction campaign, 71 percent have a plan for dementia, 71 percent provide support and training for caregivers and 66 percent have a dementia-friendly initiative.

All of these activities are recommended by WHO in the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025. The Plan also provides a comprehensive blueprint for action that can be taken by policy-makers, health- and social care providers, civil society organizations and people with dementia and their caregivers.