MEP Yannakoudakis urges more funding and research for dementia

Friday 21 October 2011

On 21 October, Marina Yannakoudakis organised a European information event in London to discuss Alzheimer’s disease with guest speaker Dr. Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK. The event focussed on new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Ms Yannakoudakis said that increasing awareness about the disease can help early diagnosis, which in turn will lessen the effects of the disease while reducing healthcare costs. She added that best practices needed to be shared at EU level and research should be pooled for better use of resources. MEP Yannakoudakis called on the EU to dedicate more funding for dementia research.

Dr. Ridley reminded the audience that dementia is not a normal part of ageing; it is caused by brain diseases which can be beaten with enough research.