Foundation Compassion Alzheimer Bulgaria (FCAB) has just submitted a report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). The report, the 6 of its kind that the FCAB has submitted, was completed prior to the 65 session of the CESCR and gives the NGO’s perspective concerning the implementation of the country’s national long-term care strategy. It advises that there are important gaps in implementation, and that the need for a dementia-specific strategy is clear. Here are some of the points included in the report:
Approximately 100,000 people in Bulgaria are currently living with dementia (50,000 of them with Alzheimer’s disease).
While the country has demonstrated a genuine commitment to improving social services, including those for older people and people living with dementia - for example by adopting a national strategy on long-term care and an action plan for 2018-2021 for the implementation of this strategy – there is still much to do and many promises that are, as yet, undelivered. A national strategy/plan for coping with challenges related to dementia and to the health and social care and services is still lacking and would be of huge benefit to the fast-growing number of people with dementia and their families and carers.
According to the Implementation Plan of the National Strategy for long-term care, 100 new social services for more than 2,000 users are planned, including:
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6 day care centres for people with different forms of dementia and their families,
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16 day care centres for people with disabilities, including with severe multiple disabilities,
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10 centres for ‘social rehabilitation and integration for persons with mental disorders’,
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68 care centres for people with disabilities and older people who need care.
There is no database yet, nor data on the real scope of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and on the different types of the disease. There is, however, annual statistical data on the number of people with dementia who have been under medical supervision (2,307 people for 2015).
FCAB hopes its report will be taken into consideration by the UN CESCR and that it will have the Committee’s support in calling for further implementation of the long-term care plan and for a dementia-specific strategy in the near future.
You can read the report here: https://bit.ly/2Vo98zL