EdukAl 2019, an educational conference on Alzheimer's disease, was the 5 consecutive annual conference successfully organised by Alzheimer Croatia. The event achieved a record number of speakers and poster presentations. The conference also attracted increased international attention. The two-day conference, on 5 and 6 December 2019, was attended by 250 participants, with more than 100 presenters from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia presenting 40 papers on news in the fields of medicine, social work, psychology, physical and occupational therapies, as well as caregiver and nursing skills.
Conference participants reiterated their plea to the Government of Croatia to start the process to create and adopt a national dementia strategy. They also called on the relevant government ministries to improve the regulations governing the recognition of disabled persons with dementia and to simplify the route by which family caregivers can obtain official carer status.
In a feedback survey on the value of the conference, two-thirds of participants said that they would return to EdukAl next year and almost 90% expressed the opinion that they would recommend it to their colleagues and friends. The EdukAl 2019 conference was supported by Alzheimer’s Disease International, Alzheimer Europe, the Croatian ministries for health, demography and social affairs as well as the Municipal City of Zagreb.
