By Julie Killian
December 11, 2013 will mark the first G8 Dementia Summit in London, United Kingdom. The summit is interested in creating an international approach to dementia research and policy.
Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) has issued a policy brief for the summit, which uncovered the number of people living with dementia to be about 44 million in 2013 worldwide. The brief also projects that this number will grow to 76 million in 2030 and 135 million by 2050. These figures support the 17% increase in the number of those living with dementia, as reported by ‘The Global Impact of Dementia 2013-2050.’
This report also estimates that there will be a shift in location where dementia is the most prevalent—from high income countries, to low and middle income countries. An estimated 71% of people with dementia will live in low and middle income countries. These figures call for a greater interest in the public policy of dementia and demand a global plan of action for governments, industry and non-profit organization. The hope is that this summit will not only encourage the G8 to develop dementia public policy but, as said by Marc Wortmann, Executive Director of ADI, “…all nations, that must commit to a sustained increase in dementia research.”
