The world is unprepared for the growing epidemic of dementia linked to the ageing of populations, experts said yesterday.
Nearly 60 per cent of the world’s population of people with dementia currently lives in low and middle income countries – and this will rise to 70 per cent by 2050, according to the World Health Organisation.
The cost of caring for more than 35 million people worldwide is already more than 600 billion US dollars, even though many cases are unrecognised, WHO said.
WHO said just eight countries worldwide, led by England and Northern Ireland, have national programmes to deal with dementia.
Some European countries, such as Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland, are developing plans, WHO says.
It calls for programmes to focus on early diagnosis and raise public awareness and reduce stigma. Countries should also seek to improve care and support for carers, it says.
Dr Oleg Chestnov, of WHO, said: “We need to increase our capacity to detect dementia early and to provide the necessary health and social care.
"Much can be done to decrease the burden of dementia. Health-care workers are often not adequately trained to recognise dementia."
Marc Wortmann, of Alzheimer’s Disease International, backed the findings.
He said: "Public awareness about dementia, its symptoms, the importance of getting a diagnosis, and the help available for those with the condition is very limited.
"It is now vital to tackle the poor levels of public awareness and understanding, and to drastically reduce the stigma associated with dementia."
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