WHO projects 150 M people would have dementia by 2050

The number of people living with dementia is expected to triple from 50 million to 152 million by 2050, the World Health Organization (WHO) disclosed.

“Nearly 10 million people develop dementia each year, six million of them in low- and middleincome countries,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus disclosed.

Dementia, according to the WHO, is an umbrella term for several diseases that are mostly progressive; affecting memory, other cognitive abilities and behavior and interfering significantly with a person’s ability to maintain the activities of daily living. Women are more often affected than men. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 60 to 70 percent of cases.

“The suffering that results is enormous. This is an alarm call. We must pay greater attention to this growing challenge and ensure that all people living with dementia, wherever they live, get the care that they need,” he added.

According to WHO, the estimated annual global cost of dementia is US$ 818 billion, equivalent to more than one percent of global gross domestic product. The total cost includes direct medical costs, social care, and informal care (loss of income of carers). By 2030, the cost is expected to have more than doubled, to US$ 2 trillion, a cost that could undermine social and economic development and overwhelm health and social services, including long-term care systems. Global monitoring system The WHO has launched recently the Global Dementia Observatory, a web-based platform which will track progress on the provision of services for people with dementia and for those who care for them.

It will also monitor the presence of national policy and plans, risk reduction measures and infrastructure for providing care and treatment. Information on surveillance systems and disease burden data is also included.