Alzheimer Europe is pleased to present the 49th edition of Dementia in Europe magazine. Together with a Special Supplement about brain health and dementia risk reduction, the magazine has been published to coincide with the 35th Alzheimer Europe Conference (#35AEC), taking place in Bologna, Italy, from 6-8 October. Delegates can stop by the Alzheimer Europe stand if they wish to get a copy of the magazine and supplement whilst attending our Conference. The 49th edition of our Dementia in Europe magazine brings updates on interesting developments across Europe in relation to policy, research, culture, advocacy and dementia care, in recent months.
We open our Alzheimer Europe section looking back at our successful lunch debate in June, held in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, at which around 100 people were present. We are grateful to co-hosts, Romana Jerković MEP (S&D, Croatia), Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP (EPP, Finland) and Hilde Vautmans MEP (Renew, Belgium) for their support! Our following two articles mark the closing of two projects in which Alzheimer Europe has been involved, with PatternCog Coordinator Jussi Tohka, and ADIS Coordinator, Holger Fröhlich, providing an overview of the achievements of their respective projects. We then hear from Ini Umoh, from the PROMINENT project, about a recently published paper on clinicians’ perspectives on clinical decision support systems in dementia care.
We are delighted to welcome and introduce new members of the European Working Group of People with Dementia and European Dementia Carers Working Group (EDCWG), in the following article, before saying goodbye to Sonata Mačiulskytė, who departs from the EDCWG. Having served admirably as Chair and Vice-Chair during the formative years of the group, she leaves with our heartfelt thanks and will be dearly missed!
Opening the policy section, Lisa Mayer introduces the comprehensive Austrian Dementia Report 2025, setting out the state of play in the country, with a reaction from Friederike de Maeyers of Demenz Selbsthilfe Austria. Turning to European matters, we then examine the EU’s general pharmaceutical legislation, with comments from the European Patients’ Forum and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. We continue with EU-level work, with an article from Petra Ritter on the use of AI in healthcare, as part of the EU-financed initiative, TEF-Health.
Moving to a global level, Katrin Seeher from the World Health Organization (WHO) provides information on the WHO’s Global Action Plan on Dementia, which has been extended until 2031. We then hear from Ricarda Milstein from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who provides insights on data from their forthcoming “Care Still Needed - Policies for Improving the Lives of People Revisited” report. Finally, we close this section with a brief overview of the most recent meeting of the European Group of Governmental Experts on Dementia, who met online in June to exchange knowledge and information.
The Dementia in Society section begins with our member Alzheimer Iceland, which has been actively supporting people with dementia for 40 years – happy anniversary! Staying with our members, we mark some significant personnel changes, in the following articles. We warmly welcome Lena Kock to her position as Chair of our Swedish member organisation Demensförbundet, whilst bidding goodbye to Liselotte Björk – a huge thanks for all her hard work and support! We will also miss Gerjoke Wilmink, who after seven years as CEO of Alzheimer Nederland, will retire next month – we are grateful for her years of committed support!
Turning to dementia and the arts, we hear from our colleagues at The Alzheimer Society of Ireland about how people with lived experience were involved in the development of the play "Lost Lear", which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2025. We then speak to director Bertrand Hagenmüller about the inspiration for his documentary film “Les Esprits Libres” and its objectives. From the arts to science, we round off this section with the positive and long-awaited news about the European authorisation of lecanemab for the treatment of early Alzheimer’s disease, which marks a milestone in the development of disease-modifying therapies.
In our final section, Spotlight on Italy, we hear about the current situation in Italy, the host country for #35AEC – a huge thank you to our Italian associations who made this section possible. We are grateful to Minister for Health, Orazio Schillaci, for taking the time to outline the current policy situation in Italy, as well as sharing some of the government’s plans for the future. We then hear from Mario Possenti of Federazione Alzheimer Italia, and Manuela Belardinelli of Alzheimer Uniti Italia, who share the vital work of their respective organisations in supporting people living with dementia and their families. If you are attending the conference, be sure to check out their sessions!
We draw this section and the magazine to a close with two moving articles from people with lived experience of dementia. First Frank Parisotto, who lives with CADASIL, shares how he lives with the condition and how small changes in the community can help people with a diagnosis to live well. In our final article, Enea Donnoli gives a touching insight into his experience as a caregiver for his wife, Elea, sharing how life changed for them following the diagnosis. Thank you to both of them for sharing their experiences with us!
We hope you enjoy this edition of our Dementia in Europe magazine and if you are in Bologna, enjoy #35AEC!
Dementia in Europe magazine issue 49 can be downloaded, here: https://bit.ly/DementiaInEurope49