It is with great pleasure that we introduce the 45th edition of our Dementia in Europe magazine, which contains many important updates on European and national policy developments in the dementia field, as well as touching on areas related to dementia research, care and awareness-raising. We open the Alzheimer Europe section with a look back at the capacity-building Alzheimer’s Association Academy workshops that we organised earlier this year and which focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and modifiable risk factors. Turning to projects in which our organisation is involved, we introduce the newly-launched AD-RIDDLE project, which will look at how to improve the prevention, detection and diagnosis of dementia; the REBALANCE project, which is exploring the use of focused ultrasounds as a novel approach for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); and we examine the progress of the AI-MIND project as it reaches its mid-term point, with promising results in both the generation of new data and the development of digital AI tools for screening brain connectivity and dementia risk estimation.
In our policy section, we are delighted to feature an article with the Maltese Minister for Health and Active Ageing, Dr Jo Etienne Abela (pictured, right) and Parliamentary Secretary for Active Ageing, Dr Malcolm Paul Agius Galea (pictured, left), who outline the country’s new National Dementia Strategy, called “Reaching New Heights”. Additionally, we are pleased to hear from Anthony Scerri, Vice-Chair of the Malta Dementia Society, who shares the organisation’s response to the new strategy. With the EU elections taking place this month, the following article takes stock of the progress of Alzheimer Europe’s election campaign, including a recap of our highly successful European Parliament Reception in Brussels. It has been fantastic to see the engagement across the different branches of our campaign (Helsinki Manifesto, public Call to Action, and Dementia Pledge for MEP candidates) and especially amongst our members. This work will continue well past the elections and is vitally important in providing a strong foundation for us to continue our policy work into the second half of 2024 and beyond. Staying at the EU level, we then hear from Katarina Ivanković-Knežević from the European Commission about the new European Disability and Parking Cards, and what this important development in European disability policy means for people living with dementia.
The final article in this section provides a brief overview of some of the fruitful and constructive discussions which took place at the most recent meeting of the European Group of Governmental Experts on Dementia. In the third and final section of the June 2024 edition of our magazine, Dementia in Society, we start with an article featuring people living with dementia, discussing a topic not often talked about: What it is like for a person with dementia to take on the role of carer themselves. We spoke to Petri Lampinen, Lieselotte Klotz and Helen Rochford Brennan about their experiences of supporting close family members in need of care. The next article explores an exciting collaboration between our Spanish member, Confederación Española de Alzheimer y otras demencias (CEAFA), and Momentum Spain, using the popular video game Fortnite and famous gamers to help raise awareness of dementia among younger people. We then highlight an important new book entitled “Occupational Therapy and Dementia: Promoting Inclusion, Rights and Opportunities for People Living with Dementia”, edited by Fiona Maclean, Alison Warren, Elaine Hunter and Lyn Westcott.
The book features contributions from professionals, as well as from people with lived experience, including members of our European Working Group of People with Dementia, Chairperson, Chris Roberts and Vice-Chairperson, Margaret McCallion. In the penultimate article, Füsun Kocaman of the Turkish Alzheimer Association outlines an innovative Erasmus+ project with the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, developing training materials to enhance the skills and knowledge of search and rescue personnel in cases involving people with dementia. The closing article of this edition takes a look “behind the headlines”, with Betty Tijms and Pieter Jelle Visser of the EPND (European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases) project, who share their work categorising five biological sub-types of AD – a vital development in improving our understanding of the condition. We hope you find this edition both interesting and useful. Dementia in Europe magazine issue 45 can be downloaded, here: https://bit.ly/DementiaInEurope45