On 4 May, the Danish Alzheimer association, Alzheimerforeningen announced that its Demensven (dementia friends) campaign had reached its target of 100,000 dementia friends across the country. This target was chosen because there are approximately 100,000 people with dementia in Denmark. Alzheimerforeningen released a video (in Danish) celebrating this milestone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=z6euKFfvJuI
Since the Demenven campaign was launched in 2016, coinciding with the association’s 25 anniversary, the concept has taken many forms. Denmark now has a number of dementia-friendly supermarkets, pharmacies, bus companies, sports associations, cultural places, kindergartens and even a dementia-friendly bodega. In total, more than 450 local partnerships have emerged around the country. The concept of “dementia friends” was born in Japan, where a campaign to create a dementia-friendly society began in 2004. Since then, the idea has spread, and today there are more than 16 million dementia friends spread across 45 countries. The next goal in Denmark is to reach 500,000 Dementia friends - one for every person affected by dementia, whether living with dementia themselves or as a family member of someone who is.
