Following letters sent to the Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, and Health Commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, Alzheimer Europe has received a joint response from the offices of both officials.
In its letters to the Vice-President and the Commissioner, Alzheimer Europe raised a number of matters, including:
-
The numbers of people living with dementia in Europe and the projected increase by 2050, as outlined in Alzheimer Europe’s Dementia in Europe Yearbook 2019
-
The need for improvement in the availability, suitability and affordability of services and supports for people living with dementia and their carers
-
The need for the EU4Health programme to include measures to support people with dementia
-
Urging both Commissioner Kyriakides and Vice-President Šuica to work closely together on the overlapping matters relating to health and the ageing demographics of Europe.
The response of the offices of the Vice-President and the Commissioner was broad in scope, without committing to any specific measures for dementia at a European level. The letter:
-
Acknowledges of the figures provided by Alzheimer Europe in relation to the number of people living with dementia and the projected increase in numbers
-
Points to the importance of Alzheimer Europe’s member organisations in prioritising dementia at a national level (owing to the reserved competence of Member States in relation to health matters)
-
Recognises the importance of health policy and long-term care in relation to the EU’s work on ageing
-
Restates some of the existing areas of focus of the EU Commission, including including a recently published Commission Communication on COIVD-19 and a dedicated section on mental health and COVID-19 on the EU’s Health Policy Platform.
