Global cost of Alzheimer’s: 1pc of global GDP - and growing: Report
By ANITuesday, September 21, 2010
WASHINGTON - A report on the Global Economic Impact of Dementia revealed that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are taking a massive toll on the global economy, and the problem will only worsen with time.
“World governments are woefully unprepared for the social and economic disruptions this disease will cause,” said Dr Daisy Acosta, Chairman of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI).
If dementia-care were a company, it would be the world’s largest by annual revenue exceeding Wal-Mart (US 414 billion dollars) and Exxon Mobil (US 311 billion dollars), the report revealed.
It also revealed that the number of people with dementia will double by 2030, and more than triple by 2050. And as more formal social care systems emerge, and rising incomes lead to higher opportunity costs, costs of caring for people will rise too.
The Report urges the global community to take the following immediate actions:
To make Alzheimer’s disease a top priority and develop national plans to deal with the social and health consequences of dementia.
Increased research funding to a level more proportionate to the economic burden of the condition.
Policies and plans for long-term care that anticipate and address social and demographic trends
“The government must lead the way in ensuring national dementia strategies are fully implemented and dementia research is given the funding it so desperately needs,” said Ruth Sutherland, Interim Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Society. (ANI)
