On 22 January, Ieva Petkutė, President of „Dementia Lithuania“ has been called to bring the arguments for the petition submitted on behalf of nearly 2,000 people and three national organisations calling for dementia strategy in Lithuania. The meeting, in support of the petition, was attended by prof. Diana Rėklaitienė, President of the Lithuanian Sports University, and Mida Vengeliauskaitė, carer of her husband living with fronto-temporal dementia. In support for the strategy call Cormac Cahill, Head of Advocacy, Research & Public Affairs at The Alzheimer Society of Ireland made a presentation to overview the impact the strategy has given to the process of dementia supports and services advancement in Ireland. This contribution was enabled by the „Alzheimer Europe“ community network.
The meeting was attended by the Petition committee members, who are also members of the Lithuanian Parliament The following aspects were outlined:
• Overwhelming lack of public awareness around dementia contributes to prevalence of stigma, late diagnosis and lack of support in communities.
• Dementia-related public policies lack continuity, consistency and monitoring of the impact of actions on health and well-being of people living with dementia and their carers.
• Absence of preventive measures and targeted approach towards the need to support people in dementia-risk group resulting in failing to ensure everything is done to overcome dementia.
• Absence of separate patient and family carer pathways don’t permit to see the burden that dementia is putting upon the people in communities.
• Absence of early efforts and tools for diagnosis undermines the human right to quality healthcare.
• Without setting dementia as a public health priority Lithuania is absent from any international research projects in Europe that are targeting dementia-related challenges, and also may bring hope for people in our society.
• Family carers, who are overwhelmingly women, are carrying heavy burden which impacts their health, social life and finances.
• In Lithuania dementia is not recognised as a leading cause of death.
The Petition committee will vote if Lithuania should have dementia strategy in the upcoming weeks.