9.78 million people are currently living with dementia in Europe, with numbers set to double by 2050, which will place greater pressure on care and support services. We need better ways of treating and preventing dementia, if people with dementia and carers are to receive the high-quality and person-centred care they need. Without research, this cannot happen. On 21 September 2020, Alzheimer Europe marked World Alzheimer’s Day with a social media campaign, calling attention to the damage COVID-19 is doing to the field of dementia research, together with a call for urgent action to address this.
“We urge all governments, funding bodies and research institutions to work together to ensure that the negative impacts of the pandemic are mitigated and that dementia is re-prioritised with the necessary resources and funds to improve our understanding of the underlying causes of dementia and our ability to provide the highest quality care and support”, said Jean Georges, Executive Director, Alzheimer Europe. The campaign was based on the organisation’s recent position paper on this topic (28 July 2020), and called for:
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greater support and flexibility for existing dementia research projects, to allow them to conclude their crucial research
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economic responses to COVID-19 (e.g. the EU Recovery Instrument), to support research institutions and researchers
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research funders and governments to ensure that dementia research funding is not significantly diminished as a result of the pandemic
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a dedicated focus on dementia in the forthcoming Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027).
The campaign ran on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and was supported by Alzheimer Europe’s national member associations, members of the European Alzheimer’s Alliance and representatives of European research projects, among others.
You can read the position paper, here: https://www.alzheimer-europe.org/policy/positions/dementia-research-and-covid-19
And the related press release, here: bit.ly/COVIDimpactsDementiaResearch
