Central Data Catalog

In 2016, there were 47 million people living with dementia worldwide. With ageing populations across the world,
this number is estimated to rise to 131 million by 2050. Not
only does it have a significant impact on the people living
with dementia, their families and the wider society; but it
also has a huge economic impact. Dementia was already expected to be a trillion-dollar disease by 2018, from a 2016
estimate of US$ 818. In addition, most people with dementia remain undiagnosed and are therefore unable to access
care and treatment. When dementia is diagnosed and care
services exist, they often are patchy, fragmented, inaccessible, expensive and not suited to meet the needs of people suffering from dementia or their families. 1 This not
only leads to increased suffering for people with dementia
and their carers, as well as impacting significantly on the
finances of the family through indirect costs of illness and
loss of productivity, but also undermines the credibility of
the health services and the practice and science of medicine itself. The care provision for people with dementia is
even more inadequate in low and middle-income countries
with lack of awareness in the communities, limited trained
and skilled resources, inequitable allocation of available resources, unaffordability of treatment, and lack of priority
given to dementia as a public health priority.