According to the World Health Organization’s Global status report on the public health response to dementia, only about 1 out of 4 nations globally have a national policy, strategy, or plan for assisting persons with dementia and their families. Most of these nations are located in WHO’s European Region. However, many European programs are about to expire or have already expired, indicating a need for governments worldwide to continue their commitment to WHO’s goals for 2025.

The number of persons living with dementia is increasing: WHO reports that more than 55 million individuals (8.1% of women and 5.4% of men over 65) have dementia. This figure is expected to increase to 78 million by 2030 and 139 million by 2050.

Dementia is a set of neurological conditions caused by various brain disorders and incidents, such as Alzheimer’s disease or a stroke. It impacts memory, other cognitive skills, and the capacity to carry out daily tasks. The incapacity caused by dementia, particularly in its middle and late stages, is a significant cause of the condition’s expenses. The worldwide cost is expected to rise to $1.7 trillion by 2030, or $2.8 trillion when care expenses are included.

The Connection Between Cardiovascular Health and Dementia

Blood vessels that effectively transport vital nutrients and oxygen throughout the body are necessary for a healthy cardiovascular system. Damage to these vessels may result in blockages in the brain, depriving brain cells of vital nutrition.

This can cause a condition called vascular dementia, which frequently coexists with Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Association advises taking very similar steps to keep your brain’s neural network healthy as you would keep up with your cardiovascular health.

• You must not smoke.
• Maintain healthy blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels.
• Eat a well-balanced diet.
• Exercise.
• Keep a healthy weight.
• Drink alcohol in moderation.

Is There a Link Between Sleep and Dementia?

The connection between sleep and dementia is complicated. Researchers aren’t clear on whether a lack of sleep raises the risk of dementia. A small study published in the August 2017 edition of the Journal of Neurology offers some evidence for a sleep-dementia link and suggests that modifying sleep patterns may reduce dementia risk.

A Mismatch in Demand and Capacity

As people live longer, their health and social care requirements increase. New treatments and technologies are created, but often not at the rate that can steadily meet a rapidly growing demand. For age-related non-communicable illnesses, there is a worldwide demand-capacity mismatch.

While most healthcare systems focus on the reactive care that takes place in hospitals, too little attention is paid to the overall burden of care handled by caregivers and practitioners. As the population ages, more people will have to devote their time to the youngest and oldest members of our population. Securing necessarily medications and treatments for loved ones may also become more difficult as the demand-capacity mismatch exacerbates as well.

Much emphasis has been placed on early identification, yet there is a significant gap between symptoms and apparent onset: the illness often begins decades before it emerges. While money is invested in clinical trials, the problem is far more significant, necessitating extensive study into cognitive behavior, immunology, and genetics.

Potential preventive strategies are currently limited. The World Health Organization recommendations on risk factor targeting, such as physical activity, cognitive treatment, and hypertension, often refer to elements of health that are too late to change by the time patients or their loved ones seek them out.

Future generations will benefit from this, but the existing elderly population faces an epidemic that would benefit from proactive care. Current approaches are restricted, if not absent entirely, and there is a dire need for something to meet the growing demand.

Fighting the world’s most costly chronic ailment as a community

The announcement of a new relationship between the World Economic Forum and the Global CEO Initiative (CEOi) during the Davos Annual Meeting marked a watershed moment.

The alliance collaborates public and commercial players, including pharmaceutical corporations, biotech firms, governments, international organizations, foundations, and research institutions, who will work together to improve the battle against Alzheimer’s and dementia.

It will investigate strategies to speed up biomarker research, attract public, private, and philanthropic funding, raise global clinical trial capacity and performance, and improve healthcare systems’ preparedness to detect, diagnose, and treat the illness.

While scientists work to discover a treatment, the problem of Alzheimer’s and dementia necessitates more comprehensive action to avert an impending health crisis of what is currently the most costly chronic ailment of the world’s aging population.

More assistance is required, especially in low- and middle-income nations.

The study emphasizes the urgent need for federal assistance in care for persons with dementia and support for those who give that care in both official and informal settings.

Primary health care, specialty care, community-based services, rehabilitation, long-term care, and palliative care are all needed for persons with dementia. While most countries (89%) responding to WHO’s Global Dementia Observatory state they provide some community-based dementia care, provision is more significant in high-income countries than in low- and middle-income nations.

It is also true that drugs for dementia, hygiene products, assistive technology, and home changes are more available and readily reimbursed in higher-income countries.

The kind and quality of services given by the health and social care sectors influence the degree of informal care that family members typically supply. Informal care contributes almost half the worldwide cost of dementia, while social care expenditures account for more than a third.

Informal care accounts for 65% of dementia care expenses in low- and middle-income countries. Estimated casual and social care expenditures account for around 40% of the total cost in affluent nations.

Conclusion

As a result of significant progress made across all regions in launching public awareness programs to raise knowledge and support of dementia, civil society groups have played an important role — two-thirds of nations that have reported to the WHO have done so.

Moreover, two-thirds of respondents have taken steps to improve access to physical and social environments for people with dementia and provide training and education to populations outside the health and social care sector, including volunteers, police, fire departments, and first responders.

Still, we have a long way to go in making dementia care more accessible to all. Evva aims to become a comprehensive stop for families worldwide to obtain easy, safe, accessible information regarding care for their loved ones.

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