Alzheimer Europe is delighted to publish the 50th edition of Dementia in Europe magazine! It is incredible to think back to the first edition, published in 2008. Over the past 18 years, our magazine has developed and adapted to the evolving dementia policy landscape, as well as changing to reflect the different areas of focus in our work and that of our members across Europe. Whilst policy remains the focal point, we also have a dedicated section showcasing the work of Alzheimer Europe, as well as one called “Dementia in Society”, which is a great platform for articles by people with lived experience of dementia, as well as articles from our members highlighting their work. This section also showcases a variety of artistic endeavours aiming to increase public understanding and reduce stigma. Given the increasing focus being placed on dementia research and Public Involvement in our own work and that of our members, we are pleased to introduce a new section, focusing specifically on these areas, as part of our 50th edition!
We open our Alzheimer Europe section looking back at our successful lunch debate in December 2025, held in the European Parliament in Brussels and hosted by two Co-Chairs of the European Alzheimer’s Alliance (EAA), Tilly Metz MEP (Luxembourg) and Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP (Finland). Thank you to both of them, as well as to other EAA members who attended, for their support. We follow this up with an article about the winners of the 2025 Alzheimer Europe Anti-Stigma Award. Our next two articles present two new publications: Our Dementia in Europe Yearbook 2025, which highlights programmes and resources relating to transport and access to cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport; and our report on “The Prevalence of Dementia in Europe 2025”, providing prevalence figures for the number of people living with dementia both for Europe as a whole, as well as the countries within. The final article in this section covers our three most recent Alzheimer’s Association Academy sessions.
Our Policy Watch section opens with an article with contributions from EAA MEPs who participated in a recent European Parliament Plenary Debate on the subject of “a European strategy for addressing Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia”. We then look at an event hosted by EAA Co-Chair Nina Carberry MEP (Ireland) focused on Women's brain health. The following article examines the new political agreement on the reform of the EU pharmaceutical legislation and the European Commission’s proposal of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) EU for the period 2028-2034. We close the section with a summary of the most recent meeting of the European Group of Governmental Experts on Dementia, held in Bologna (Italy), just prior to the 35th Alzheimer Europe Conference (35AEC).
Our new section, “Research and Public Involvement”, opens with highlights from the 2025 European Day of Persons with Disabilities, hosted by the European Commission and the European Disability Forum. Following this, we have four articles about EU-funded research projects in which Alzheimer Europe is a partner: ACCESS-AD, AD-RIDDLE, FIGARO and REBALANCE. The ACCESS-AD and FIGARO articles introduce these two new and exciting projects, whilst the AD-RIDDLE article presents a new policy report, and the REBALANCE article shares some developments as the project passes its halfway point. The final piece in this section is written by six people with lived experience of dementia, from two different continents, who share their reflections on the importance of Public Involvement.
The Dementia in Society section begins with an interview with departing Director of Alzheimer Switzerland, Stefanie Becker, who reflects on ten years in the role. Next, we talk to Michelle Dyson, the recently appointed CEO of the Alzheimer’s Society (UK), who shares her hopes and plans for the future of the organisation. We then hear about work underway in Scotland to raise awareness about Childhood Dementia - this article follows a presentation from Claire Fyvie, the mother of a child affected by childhood dementia, during 35AEC which was met with a huge amount of interest from the audience. In our penultimate article, we interview the director of a new German adaptation of “The Lion’s Face” opera, portraying the life of a person with Alzheimer’s disease residing in a nursing home. Last, but by no means least, we include an article written by Pia Knudsen, a former member of the European Working Group of People with Dementia, in which she shares her experience of receiving her diagnosis, how this has shaped her life and what it might mean if the diagnosis turned out to be something else.
We hope you enjoy this 50th edition of our magazine!
Dementia in Europe magazine issue 50 can be downloaded, here: https://bit.ly/DementiaInEurope50
