Sir, – The World Health Organization (WHO) unanimously decided to adopt a global plan on dementia at the 70th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
The Global Plan of Action on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025 aims to improve the lives of people with dementia, their families and the people who care for them, while decreasing the impact of dementia on communities and countries.
This global plan of action on dementia is very welcome as it sends out a clear message to governments around the world that plans and policies on dementia must be implemented and that these plans need to be funded and monitored.
The Government published the National Dementia Strategy in 2014 to increase awareness, ensure early diagnosis and intervention and development of enhanced community-based services.
However, the Irish Government must now take immediate action to ensure that it fulfils their obligations under the new global plan by fully implementing this National Dementia Strategy and introducing a ring-fenced budget for dementia services across the country.
This global plan has been introduced because dementia currently affects 50 million people worldwide – a number that will almost triple by 2050. In Ireland, the number of people with dementia is expected to more than double over the next 20 years, from 55,000 today to 113,000 in 2036. This is a pressing issue which requires an urgent response.
The Irish Government needs to accept that the scale of dementia needs a specific response and a specific budget that is ring-fenced and targeted to where the greatest need exists for services. A multi-annual budget would allow the real gaps that are emerging in service provision to be dealt with in a planned way, based on need and heavily influenced by persons with dementia and their carers. We are determined to ensure that dementia is taken more seriously by planners at a national and local level and resourced properly.
The Government has a responsibility to take the pressing issue of dementia more seriously in the years ahead. The time for talking is over – action is now required. – Yours, etc,
PAT McLOUGHLIN,
Chief Executive,
Alzheimer Society
of Ireland,
National Office,
Temple Road,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.