The following publication highlights continuing inequalities in access to dementia care and treatment across Europe.
- The objective of the “European Dementia Monitor” is to provide a benchmark of national dementia policies in order to compare and rate the responses of European countries to the dementia challenge.
- More specifically, the European Dementia Monitor 2023 assesses which countries provide the most dementia-inclusive policies and guarantee the best support and treatment of people with dementia and their carers.
- The Monitor found that, whilst a number of countries were able to improve the situation of people with dementia and their carers, progress was not the same across all European regions. This was also noted in the 2017 and 2020 editions.
- There is still a clear East/West divide in Europe, with most of the Western and Northern European countries scoring significantly higher than Eastern European countries.
- With continuing inequalities between European countries, Alzheimer Europe hopes that national governments will use this report to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers in those areas where they are currently lagging behind.
- As a rule, the Monitor found that countries with national dementia strategies scored better than those without.
The objective of the report entitled “European Dementia Monitor” was to provide a benchmark of national dementia policies in order to compare and rate the responses of European countries to the dementia challenge. The survey covered all Member States of the European Union (with the exception of Latvia), as well as Armenia, Iceland, Israel, Jersey, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom (both England and Scotland) and Ukraine.
Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe, stated: “Our organisation has consistently called upon European governments to recognise dementia as a national public health and research priority, and to develop national dementia strategies. The aim of the European Dementia Monitor is to assess which countries provide the most dementia-inclusive policies and guarantee the best support and treatment of people with dementia and their carers. This third edition of our report shows continuing inequalities between European countries, and we hope that national governments will use this report to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers in those areas where they are currently lagging behind.”
The European Dementia Monitor compares countries on 10 different categories:
1. The availability of care services
2. The affordability of care services
3. The reimbursement of medicines and other medical interventions
4. The availability of clinical trials
5. The involvement of the country in European dementia research initiatives
6. The recognition of dementia as a policy and research priority
7. The development of dementia-friendly initiatives
8. The recognition of legal rights
9. The ratification of International and European human rights treaties
10. Care and employment rights
According to the findings of the European Dementia Monitor, no country excelled in all 10 categories and there were significant differences between European countries. Some of the key findings were:
• Luxembourg scored highest on care availability with most services rated as sufficiently available, whereas Norway scored highest on care affordability as it ensured that these services were accessible and affordable for people with dementia and their carers. On both care availability and care affordability, Bulgaria ranked last.
• On the availability and reimbursement of medical interventions, Sweden scored highest as all included medical interventions (with the exception of Fortasyn Connect) were covered by the national reimbursement system. Armenia ranked last in this category as none of the medical interventions were reimbursed.
• As Europe is waiting for the authorisation by the European Medicines Agency of new anti-amyloid treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, only Greece, Ireland, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom (England) had set up a working group or strategy to prepare for the introduction of these new treatments.
• France scored highest in the category of clinical trials as the only country where it was possible for people with dementia to take part in eight of the 10 phase III clinical trials which were studied for the report. The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom came second, with seven clinical trials active in these countries. Armenia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and North Macedonia were on the other end of the scale, with no clinical trials available for people with dementia in those countries.
• France, Germany and the Netherlands were the countries that were the most active in European dementia research collaborations scoring 100% in that category, whereas Armenia, Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine were not involved in the Joint Programme for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research (JPND) or any of the calls for European research collaboration.
• For recognition of dementia as a national policy and research priority, the United Kingdom (Scotland) came first with full marks whereas North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine did not score any points in this category.
• The United Kingdom (England and Scotland) had the most dementia-inclusive initiatives and communities, but Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Portugal and Serbia did not score any points in this category.
• Regarding the protection of the legal rights of people with dementia, a growing number of countries complied with Alzheimer Europe’s five recommendations in this field (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jersey, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (England)). However, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Poland and Romania scored no points in this category.
• In relation to International and European Human Rights Conventions, there has been progress since earlier editions of the Monitor (2017 and 2020), with an increasing number of countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece and Portugal) having signed and ratified all of the treaties. Israel was the country with the least number of conventions signed and ratified.
• The Czech Republic, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (Scotland) were the three countries where all care and employment rights were recognised, whereas Armenia, Cyprus and Ukraine came last in this category with none of these rights recognised in legislation.