Dementia is becoming a growing public health challenge around the world, with an estimated 150 million people expected to be living with the disease by 2050.
Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Founding Chairman George Vradenburg said that in sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 2.13 million people were living with dementia by 2015, and this number is expected to increase to 3.48 million by 2030 and 7.62 million by 2050.
Vradenburg explained that dementia is a term for various diseases that affect a person’s mentality, thinking, and normal ability to perform tasks. This condition, mainly Alzheimer’s, is the seventh leading cause of death and a major cause of disability, dependency, and death among the elderly population globally.
Vradenburg spoke on Wednesday in Nairobi during a conference on brain health and dementia in Africa organized by the Davos Alzheimer’s collaborative and the Aga Khan University.
The conference aims to address key issues and share the latest research on the determinacies, occurrence, and distribution of dementia, including contributing risk factors, genetic advances, clinical trials, early detection, and diagnosis.
Vradenburg explained that each insight brings them closer to revolutionising Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment globally, and this conference marks a pivotal step towards inclusive, effective solutions for brain health across all populations.
The Director of the University of Witwatersrand, Stephen Tollman, stated that dementia is co-related with other health factors such as obesity and HIV infections, among others.
He said that he based his research on South Africa and Nigeria, where the findings showed that dementia constitutes several diseases that affect memory, thinking, and the ability to perform tasks.
“We must be alive to the important aspect that capacity building is needed in the global south in order to enable early detection of the disease. We must also understand that lifestyle changes are important in changing the course of dementia,” said Director of the Brain and Mind Institute at Aga Khan University, Prof. Zul Merali.
Mary Amaokah, Senior Research Fellow, University of Ghana, emphasised the fact that dementia is not a mental illness but a health condition.
She also stated that it is not witchcraft, nor is it only affecting the elderly but the community in general.
Amaokah said that there is inadequate or nonexistent help on social policies to support people living with dementia and other cognitive impairments.
“Care-giving largely is accepted as the duty of the family to take care of the ageing, and this usually becomes a responsibility of the children, and usually female children,” she said.
She added that despite aid, professional care-givers sometimes go above and beyond to the point of sacrificing their personal lives for their patients.
The conference will also foster new collaborations between African researchers and global partners as experts discuss how Africa’s evolving healthcare landscape presents an opportunity for advancing brain health solutions.
By Imbiakha Phanice and Rebecca Kibegwa
