Punjab government, on Wednesday, included dementia in its list of priority disease areas while a Provincial Dementia Plan is being developed to achieve tangible actions required to improve the lives of patients, their families and care partners.
Alzheimer’s Pakistan Secretary-General Dr Hussain Jafri said that the Punjab government’s decision has come at a time when the world governments are failing to address the dementia crisis, according to a new report launched by the Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI).
On the second anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025, Dr Jafri claimed that the primary target to have 146 of the 194 member states develop a national response plan to dementia was falling further behind.
Globally, he said, only 31 national plans existed, including merely 26 WHO member states, while up to 34 were being developed.
In the last two years, he added, only two countries (Chile and Qatar) had created plans, which means that given the current rate, the 2025 target would not be reached.
He quoted ADI CEO Paola Barbarino as saying, “Two years on from the commitment made by 194 countries at the World Health Assembly, the pace of progress is still too slow. World governments must recognize the crisis we’re facing now and proactively work to ensure they’re prepared for the dementia emergency at a national level.”
The secretary-general acknowledging development in keys areas like risk reduction research and believed that the search for disease-modifying treatments remained underfunded while the application of better care interventions was elusive.
In the meantime, he noted, millions of people living with dementia and their families found themselves under terrible strain.
