President Sarkozy announced the 3rd “French Alzheimer Plan” on 1 February 2008, pledging EUR 1.6 billion to the five year programme. In February 2011 the three year review of the plan took place with the President, government ministers and experts taking part. All participants agreed that the third plan should be followed by another, which should be just as ambitious in order to maintain the momentum and capitalise on advances made.

Alzheimer Europe (AE): Ms. Lustman, you have been appointed by President Sarkozy to coordinate the implementation of the ambitious French Alzheimer’s Plan, a plan that covers 44 important recommendations. Can you highlight the three priorities which you would consider to be the most urgent or important?

Florence Lustman (FL) : With resources of 1,6 billion euros over 5 years, the Alzheimer’s Plan aims to integrate research, medical care and social care to fulfil the needs of patients and their carers.

The first priority of the plan is to know better Alzheimer’s disease in order to defeat it. A scientific cooperation foundation will be set up with both public and private funding. It will coordinate nationally a stronger “translational” research and international cooperation. The goal has been set by President Sarkozy: “to discover or validate a diagnosis or a treatment within 5 years”.

The second priority is to improve the quality of life for patients and their carers. First, the plan will help patients and their families cope with the shock of discovering the disease by giving them a better access to a coached diagnosis. Secondly, the plan will increase the quality and integration of health and social care ; it will give every patient access to a one stop-shop, the MAIA, where a specifically dedicated case-manager will design an integrated plan of health and social care suitable for the patient. Home-based support will be developed with new respite structures and adaptation of housing to cognitive handicaps. In rest homes, Alzheimer units will be set up. In all cases, health and social staff will be specifically trained in Alzheimer’s and related diseases.

The third priority is ethical : to change the way people look at Alzheimer’s disease and to set up a new status of the patient.

AE: Alzheimer Europe was delighted to see that the French Alzheimer’s Plan also mentions the importance of making Alzheimer’s disease a European priority. Which actions should we expect to be taken under the French Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2008.

(FL) : My mission specifically involves an international perpective : I am developing all useful relations on an international and European basis. The Alzheimer’s plan includes the organization of a pan-European conference on Alzheimer’s disease under the French Presidency of the European Union. This conference will take place in Paris on October 30 and 31st 2008. It should focus on three main topics including an ethical perspective on each one: developing the coordination of the European research, presumably on strategies of prevention of the disease and the subsequent loss of autonomy ; sharing good practices or standards in the management of health of social care on a European level ; identifying common objectives on specific skills and training of medical and social staff related to Alzheimer’s disease. We look forward to cooperating within Europe on all these subjects.

The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced the far-reaching “French Alzheimer Plan” on 1 February 2008, pledging 1.6 billion euro to the five-year programme. The Plan aims to fight dementia and is concerned with three main areas, firstly, to improve the quality of life for people with dementia and their carers, secondly, to develop our understanding of the disease for future action and, thirdly, to mobilise society for the fight against dementia. In total, the Plan lists 11 objectives and over 40 comprehensive measures to achieve these objectives.

Perhaps the most significant measure is under the ambit of developing our understanding of the disease where one objective is to “produce an unprecedented effort for research”. No less than 13 recommendations are listed under this objective to make France one of the leading countries for dementia research. It is also proposed to establish a new foundation for Alzheimer’s research which should coordinate all efforts of doctors, scientists and researchers in addressing dementia.

The first measure to have been implemented is the “Alzheimer’s disease health and emergency care card” which has been issued to secure better and more appropriate treatment in the case of emergencies for people with dementia. The card opens to display the person’s details, including contact information as well as “golden rules” for handling the disease. This initiative is one of the first direct results of the report by Joel Menard, which made a number of recommendations for better solutions for helping people with dementia and which formed the basis of many of the Plan’s priorities.

The Plan also aims to help families deal with the stress involved with caring for the people with Alzheimer’s and foresees some key initiatives, such as the development of respite care, carer training programmes, domiciliary care services as well as the setting up of a network of nursing homes.

To help meet the 1.6 billion euro cost of this comprehensive plan and, recognising that the cost of caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease in France is around 10 billion euro per year, the President believes that everyone should help fight the disease. President Sarkozy therefore proposed that patients contribute a token amount towards their prescriptions and any paramedical aid or medical transport. He also recognises that “this is a lasting commitment on behalf of the state in the fight against this disease. This is a personal commitment”.

The plans have been well-received by all stakeholders, including the French Alzheimer Association.

Although the President called Alzheimer’s disease a “real national drama”, recognition is given to the scope of the disease with the President planning to use the French Presidency to organise a pan-European conference on Alzheimer’s disease. Summarising the path ahead, President Sarkozy said “To fight this illness is a challenge. It has nothing to do with left or right-wing politics. All governments over the next 30 years will be confronted by it.”