A new paper “Advancing dementia care: a review of Italy’s public health response within the WHO Global Action Plan and European strategies” has been published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Public Health. The paper examines the Italian public health response to dementia, measured against global strategies such as the World Health Organization’s global action plan on dementia. Specifically, it examines those activities under the Italian Fund for Alzheimer’s and other Dementias (IFAD), which was established in 2020. The paper notes that the refinancing of the IFAD will ensure the continuation of key activities detailed in the review, providing an opportunity to consolidate progress, overcome barriers and further develop future initiatives.
For the 2024–2026 period, eight priority areas have been identified:
1. Disseminating and implementing the national guidelines
. Updating the 2014 Italian national dementia plan
3. Revising guidance documents from the national committee
4. Developing a national training strategy for both professionals and caregivers
5. Evaluating dementia prevention strategies at individual and population levels
6. Identifying national indicators for dementia services
7. Defining national indicators for dementia-specific integrated care pathways
8. Supporting telerehabilitation evaluation activities.
The open access paper is available at: https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/bmjph/3/2/e002250.full.pdf