GLOBAL STATUS REPORT ON THE PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO DEMENTIA’.

• Recently, the WHO (World Health Organisation) released a report ‘Global status report on the public health response to dementia’.
• It takes stock of progress made to date towards the 2025 global targets for dementia laid out in the WHO’s ‘Global Dementia Action Plan’ published in 2017.

Important points:

• It is a syndrome – usually of a chronic or progressive nature – that leads to deterioration in cognitive function (i.e. the ability to process thought) beyond what might be expected from the usual consequences of biological ageing.
• It affects memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgement.
• However, the consciousness is not affected.
• 65% of total deaths due to dementia are women, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to dementia are roughly 60% higher in women than in men.
• Memory loss, Difficulties with thinking, Visual perception, Self-management, Problem solving or language and the ability to focus and pay attention.
• Personality changes, like depression, agitation, paranoia, and mood swings.
• When brain cells are damaged then dementia may occur. It can be caused by a head injury, a stroke, a brain tumour or due to HIV infection
• There is currently no treatment available to cure dementia, though numerous new treatments are being investigated in various stages of clinical trials.
• Dementia is currently the seventh leading cause of death among all diseases and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide.
• More than 55 million people (8.1% of women and 5.4% of men over 65 years) are living with dementia.
• This number is estimated to rise to 78 million by 2030 and to 139 million by 2050.
• WHO’s Western Pacific Region has the highest number of people with dementia (20.1 million), followed by the European Region (14.1 million).

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT