The Daily Star - Danish expert urges better Alzheimer's care in Lebanon - October 23, 2010

BEIRUT: A top Danish neurological specialist met with Social Affairs Minister Salim Sayegh Friday to encourage the country to adopt a more proactive dementia and Alzheimer’s strategy.

More access to home care, raising awareness among the medical profession and general population, and an increase in the provision of government health services are all needed, said Dr. Gunhild Waldemar, director of the government-funded Danish National Dementia Research Center.

During her five-day visit, Waldemar will also seek to formalize a cooperation agreement between her organization and Lebanon, in a bid to improve access to treatment and research capacities and develop new care methods.

“For all the differences, both our countries face a similar problem – the number of Alzheimer’s cases is expected to rise drastically over the next 40 years,” she told The Daily Star. “This will have a heavy impact on the economy and impels us to seek new and creative ways to manage the disease.”

Dementia is a growing problem in Lebanon and is currently thought to affect between 30,000 and 35,000 people in the country. With dementia developing in around 7 percent of people above 60, and more than 30 percent of people above 80, however, the number is set to rise as life expectancy increases and the population ages.
The number of cases globally is predicted to swell from 35 million to over 150 million by 2050, with most new cases in the developing world.

“The current systems in place are unsustainable, the family cannot take on the whole burden, as is largely the case in Lebanon, but neither can the state keep providing most the services, as is the case in Western Europe,” said Waldemar.

“We need to look at how the family structure, as it exists in Lebanon, can perhaps be adopted elsewhere.

“It is preferable for people with dementia to be looked after by people they know,” Waldemar said. “But sometimes the burden of caring for a very ill individual can get too much and that is when the state has to step in.” – S.S.