Health Secretary announces 10-year plan for dementia

The Health and Social Care Secretary has announced a new 10-year plan to tackle dementia and boost funding for research to better understand neurodegenerative diseases.

The new plan will be published later this year, with a focus on how new medicines and emerging science and technology can be harnessed to improve outcomes for dementia patients.

More than 900,000 people are believed to be living with dementia in the UK, and the pandemic has led to a backlog of dementia diagnoses, with 30,000 people facing delays during the pandemic.

It is predicted that one million people will be living with dementia by 2025 and 1.6 million by 2040.

At the annual Alzheimer’s Society conference, Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘Our dementia strategy will be a 10-year plan, because we can only get to grips with long-term challenges by thinking long-term.

‘When a visionary plan comes together, with powerful partners and proper funding – and we couple it with care and compassion – that combination can be unbeatable.’

The government has already committed £375 million into research on neurodegenerative diseases over the next five years and the Health and Social Care Secretary has committed to working across government to boost this further.

The government is also working with charities and dementia experts, including Alzheimer’s Society, ahead of setting out the 10-year plan.

Up to 40% of dementia is considered potentially preventable and what is good for the heart is also good for the brain, so the strategy will also include actions to tackle high blood pressure, physical inactivity, alcohol, obesity and to promote healthy eating.

In related news, unless countries address risk factors, the number of people living with dementia could triple t0 153 million in 2050, according to a new study published in The Lancet Public Health.

This increase is primarily due to population growth and an ageing population, but the authors also considered risk factors such as smoking, obesity, high blood sugar, low education and air pollution.

Photo by Robina Weermeijer