Alzheimer Europe welcomed delegates, representing 23 national member associations from 21 different countries across Europe, to its Public Affairs meeting on 5 and 6 May 2026 in Brussels (Belgium). The meeting was also attended by staff from Alzheimer Europe and by a representative of the European Dementia Carers Working Group (EDCWG).
The agenda on 5 May began with a section on “Advocating for new AD treatments in Europe”, moderated by Angela Bradshaw, Director for Research who started things off with a presentation on Alzheimer Europe’s position paper on anti-amyloid treatments, called “From European Commission approval to access in European countries”. This was followed by a discussion with members and with some presentations on learnings from national activities and campaigns, with contributions from Wiesje van der Flier (Netherlands), Friederike de Maeyer (Austria), Jo Baxter (United Kingdom) and Štefanija Lukić Zlobec (Slovenia). Members were then given the floor to share some of their national activities, with presentations from Ofelya Kamavosyan (Armenia), René Thyrian (Germany), and Jana Strashevska (North Macedonia).
The second day of the meeting began with a section on “Alzheimer’s associations and other types of dementia” moderated by Soraya Moradi-Bachiller, Public Involvement Officer, and Angela Bradshaw. They spoke about PREDICTFTD, a new EU Project aimed at raising public awareness on fronto-temporal dementia. Following this first presentation of the day, Andy Heffernan (Ireland) gave some insights into “Experiences of national Alzheimer’s associations on communicating on and advocating for other types of dementia and people affected by them”.
Members were then given the floor to share some of their national activities, with presentations from Iryna Shevchenko (Ukraine), Katariina Suomu (Finland), Cormac Cahill (Ireland), Mary-Frances Morris (Scotland, United Kingdom), Friederike de Maeyer (Austria), Süslü Hatice Sertaç (Türkiye), Maria Kreger Karabova (Slovakia), Elka Stefanova (Serbia), Ourania Chatziroumpi (Greece), Štefanija Lukić Zlobec (Slovenia), Edyta Ekwinska (Poland), Kristia Ivanova (Bulgaria).
Our next Public Affairs meeting is scheduled to take place on 30 June and 1 July in Luxembourg.
