Alzheimer Europe’s Dementia Monitor 2020, provides a high-level provides a snapshot of the current situation in relation to the response of countries in Europe in relation to dementia, across 10 areas, including the care and support services, policy drivers and legal protections. The report was developed through Alzheimer Europe working with its national member associations to gather information and is the second Dementia Monitor, with the first published in 2017.
The 2017 publication established a benchmark for the position of countries on around the aforementioned areas of dementia, which has allowed the Alzheimer Europe to identify changes in the dementia landscape over the past 3 years.
Some key highlights from the Dementia Monitor 2020 include:
- Care and support Services continue to be largely insufficiently available, despite some minor improvements since 2017
- A majority of care and support services continue to receive some level of financial support from the state (either fully funded or co-funded)
- An increasing number of countries are engaging in policy processes designed to prioritise dementia, for example, through the development of dementia strategies
- A majority of countries continue to have a poor level of legal protections in place for the rights of people with dementia or carers, particularly in relation to employment matters
- There continues to be significant difference between Western and Northern European countries and those in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of how governments are responding to dementia.
Alzheimer Europe (2020). European Dementia Monitor 2020 - Comparing and benchmarking national dementia strategies and policies. ISBN 978-2-9199578-6-6, Luxembourg, Alzheimer Europe