Let’s make dementia the priority it should be this World Alzheimer’s Month

There’s no way to sugarcoat it – dementia devastates lives. One in three people born in the UK today will get dementia and it’s the UK’s biggest killer.

There are currently 900,000 people living with the condition and that number is set to rise to 1.6 million by 2040.

Dementia diagnosis rates hit a five-year low during the pandemic and have stagnated ever since, leaving tens of thousands unable to unlock the right support.

At the moment, there are no treatments readily available to slow down progression of Alzheimer’s disease, while family carers are at breaking point.

People over 50 tell us that dementia is the condition they are most concerned about, and you can see why.

The picture seems bleak and the challenge insurmountable, but we can’t just bury our heads in the sand.

A challenge of this scale won’t go away on its own. We need to make dementia a priority and tackle it like the colossal problem it is.

We need to get everyone talking about what is one of the biggest health challenges facing society.

Alzheimer’s Society is at the forefront of this fight. We are making headway and feel we are on the precipice of better outcomes for people affected by dementia.

The Government’s Major Conditions Strategy has recognised the scale of the problem by including dementia in its plans. We have worked with policy makers to emphasise that the plans need to be ambitious, with people living with dementia given a voice throughout.

Thanks to a £5 million award, raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, Alzheimer’s Society, along with Alzheimer’s Research UK and the NIHR, have launched the Blood Biomarker Challenge which will gather the information needed to introduce a blood test for dementia into UK healthcare systems. This blood test would be a crucial step in speeding up how quickly and how early we are able to diagnose dementia.

After 20 years with no new Alzheimer’s disease drugs in the UK, we now have two potential drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, that seem to slow the progression of the disease. This could be the beginning of the end for Alzheimer’s.

There is genuine hope on the horizon when it comes to diagnosis, care and treatments for dementia. And for anyone affected today, we are there, providing help through the hardest and most frightening times.

We vow not to rest until we have a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Please help by donating to Alzheimer’s Society this World Alzheimer’s Month so we can carry on this crucial fight. Visit: alzheimers.org.uk

Contact: eugenie.arrowsmith@alzheimers.org.uk / 07854 042938