Dementia in the Asia Pacific: The Epidemic is here
![[photo]](images/carehome.jpg "Care home in South Korea")
A care home in South Korea,
where dementia has recently been made a national health
priority
"Dementia in the Asia Pacific: The Epidemic is here" is a report commissioned by the 15 Asia Pacific members of Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI). The report was produced in order to enable Asia Pacific members of ADI to advocate to their governments. It has been launched on 21 September, World Alzheimer's Day 2006, with funding from ADI and the Tsao Foundation.
Key findings
The report concludes that:
- The number of people with dementia in the Asia Pacific Region will rise from about 14 million today to 65 million by 2050
- Over the same period the number of new cases each year will rise from 4 million to 20 million
A disparity exists within the region, where Australian and South Korean governments have made dementia a health priority, but many developing countries have:
- Limited awareness of dementia
- An assumption that dementia is a natural part of ageing
- Inadequate human and financial resources to meet care needs
Recommendations
That all Asia Pacific governments should:
- Create the climate for change of community attitude and government policy through greater awareness and de-stigmatisation of dementia
- Build effective coalitions for partnership between policy makers, clinicians, researchers, care givers and people with dementia
- Promote the development of care services that are responsive to the needs of people with dementia and their family carers.
For more information download the 10 page Executive Summary (PDF 118KB) or full 50 page Report (PDF 394KB).
Versions of the Report are also available in the following languages:
- Chinese (PDF 277KB)
- Hindi (PDF 150KB)
- Indonesian (PDF 143KB)
- Japanese (PDF 265KB)
- Korean (PDF 254KB)
- Malay (PDF 142KB)
- Tagalog (PDF 145KB)
- Vietnamese (PDF 161KB)