Time for action - Let's make dementia top of mind
“You get told about your diagnosis and then advised to go and get your 'affairs' in order. Everything becomes slanted to the negative. It's as if you no longer have anything to look forward to.”
These are the words of one of the 70,000 people living with dementia in New Zealand today. These voices matter and it’s time their stories were heard.
Research into the lived experience of dementia shows us that while it is possible to live well with dementia in New Zealand, it is certainly not easy to do so.
That’s because of the stigma associated with the condition which can leave people very isolated. It’s also because there are just not enough of the right kinds of services available for people to get the help and support they need.
Kiwis living with dementia are vulnerable and struggling. And it’s only going to get worse as the numbers of people living with dementia are expected to almost triple in just the next generation.
Dementia is expensive
The annual costs of supporting people with dementia are about the same as the combined annual costs of supporting people with cancer, heart disease and stroke. And if nothing changes then we can expect dementia to cost New Zealand almost $5b a year in just a few decades.
The greatest global challenge for health and social care in the 21st century
New Zealand is not alone. Every 3 seconds, someone in the world develops dementia. The number of people living with dementia around the world will almost double every 20 years. Indeed, dementia has been described by The Lancet as, “the greatest global challenge for health and social care in the 21st century”.
The World Health Organisation recognises dementia as a public health priority in its Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025. Almost 30 countries around the world already have national dementia plans in place.
Just this month the G20 singled out dementia as one of its global health priorities in the summit declaration, stating: “We will implement comprehensive set of policies to address dementia, including promoting risk reduction and sustainable provision of long-term care as well as inclusive societies aiming to improve quality of lives of people with dementia and caregivers.”
A national dementia plan for New Zealand
It’s time for action here in New Zealand too. Which is why we are pleased to be working with our colleagues in the sector to develop a national dementia plan for New Zealand.
We support the Coalition Government’s focus on the wellbeing of New Zealanders and share their concern for vulnerable and forgotten people in Aotearoa New Zealand, many of whom are those affected by dementia.
A comprehensive, national dementia plan will address their specific needs and provide an opportunity to implement a long-overdue scaling up of support and services for people living with dementia.
To be effective, the plan must focus on prevention and risk reduction (this could lower the number of people diagnosed with dementia by 10 to 20%), timely diagnosis, more and better services to support people to live at home, healthier, for longer, as well as flexible, high quality respite services so family carers can take a break.
Alongside this, the plan should also build age and dementia-friendly communities to raise awareness and address stigma and discrimination and establish indicators so we can monitor progress and conduct research.
I leave you as I begun, with these words from a person living with dementia.
“However it may feel at the beginning, it is still possible to live a life of quality with dementia. Not the life you had before, perhaps, but a life full of promise…”
We all have our part to play. The time for action, truly, is now. If you believe people with dementia deserve better, take a moment to pledge your support to the Dementia Declaration on ActionStation.
Catherine Hall
Chief Executive, Alzheimers NZ