Surely there are few things more frightening or depressing than realizing that you are losing control of your mind and there is nothing you can do about it. No wonder Alzheimer's disease is one of the most feared illnesses in the world, right up there with cancer.
World Alzheimer's Day: Time to Remember
An irreversible brain disease that affects memory, understanding and simple bodily functions, Alzheimer's gradually destroys sufferer's ability to walk, talk, think, and eat. There is no known cure and no one survives.
For family and friends, it is a heartbreaking ordeal watching their loved ones slipping into dementia, groping through a mental fog, their personalities, memories and moods liable to sudden change.
And as the world population ages, this physical, emotional and for healthcare systems financial burden will increase massively.
The number of people with dementia is forecast to nearly double every 20 years - from 36 million in 2010 to 115 million in 2050, according to the World Alzheimer Report 2009, produced by Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI).
In the U.S. alone, there are an estimated 5.3 million people living with Alzheimer's, according to the national Alzheimer's Association. As the century progresses, it will become a growing problem in middle and low income countries too.
According to ADI's 2010 report, the costs associated with dementia totalled 604 billion dollars, about one percent of global GDP. If dementia care were a country, it would be the world's 18th largest economy.
Consequently the recent United Nations Summit on Non Communicable Diseases recognized for the first time that Alzheimer's disease and other dementias were a significant cause of death worldwide and a disease burden on a par with diabetes, cancer, lung diseases and cardiovascular disease.
The UN statement declared that there is "a need to provide equitable access to effective programmes and health-care interventions".
Which is precisely why, every year on September 21, Alzheimer associations across the globe unite to recognise World Alzheimer's Day, with events like Memory Walks, conferences, meetings with government agencies and other awareness-raising exercises. Considering the UN declaration, it's also timely that September 2011 has become the first-ever World Alzheimer's Month.
Betty Stein, 92, plays ping pong at a program for people with Alzheimer's and dementia in Los Angeles, California. Founder Mikhail Zaretsksky says the sport does not cure, or even slow down the disease, but helps the 100 participants by raising their heart rate and the blood flow to their brains. (Source: Reuters)
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