Prior to its Annual Conference (#29AEC) in The Hague, Alzheimer Europe held a Board meeting on 22-23 October and an Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 23 October. 33 out of 35 full member organisations were in attendance or represented at the AGM, at which Alzheimer Europe celebrated its achievements in 2018 and shared its plans for 2020. Some of the organisation’s main achievements from 2018 were:
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carrying out a mapping exercise of national working groups of people with dementia and providing a report with the results, as well as identifying good practices
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reinstituting the European group of governmental experts on dementia and organising a first meeting of the group, with representation from 17 national ministries, the European Commission, the OECD and the World Health Organization
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publishing the 2018 Dementia in Europe Yearbook with a comparison of 21 national dementia strategies in European countries
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developing a report on intercultural care and support for people with dementia from minority ethnic groups as part of its European Dementia Ethics Network
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publishing the results of a survey of 1,409 carers’ experiences of a diagnosis in the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (Scotland) in a report and publishing a scientific article in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry thanks to an educational grant from Roche.
The meeting also focused on the recent European Parliament elections and looked at ways to try and ensure dementia is a priority of the next EU Health and Research Programmes.
Policy Officer Owen Miller presented some preliminary findings from the European Dementia Movement survey, carried out this year. He was pleased to share that, based on responses from 55% of member organisations, the network already includes 592 local and regional branches, 3,910 staff members, and that its 2018 expenditure was approximately EUR 220 million.
