Cost Of Caring For Those Affected By Dementia Now Equal to 1% of GDP
Article by Richard Kuehn
The Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) released their annual report on World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21) and noted that the cost of dementia worldwide are estimated to be about 4 bil. in 2010, approximately 1% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). It represents an even higher proportion of GDP in high income countries such as the U.S. About 70% of these costs occur in North America and Western Europe. The report defines costs as informal care (unpaid care provided by family and others), direct costs of social care (provided by community care professionals, and in residential home settings) and the direct costs of medical care (the costs of treating dementia and other conditions in primary and secondary care). The data showed that costs of informal care and the direct costs of social care generally contribute similar proportions of total costs (42% each), while the direct medical costs are much lower (16%). The staggering number statistics were released by the ADI, a non-profit organization which is an international federation of 73 national Alzheimer’s organizations, including the Alzheimer’s Association in the U.S., which my company, Family inHome Caregiving of Monterey, is a large supporter of. To date we have raised more than K to support their efforts, including finding a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. The recent report highlights a fact that simply can’t be ignored. With health costs already crippling the U.S. economy, something must be done to find a treatment for the growing number of people afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.
The report estimates that the annual cost per person with dementia is over K per year in the U.S. “The figures are cause for great concern and we hope that this Report will act as a call to action for governments and policy makers across the world. It is vital that they recognize that the cost of dementia will continue to increase at an alarming rate and we must work to improve care and support services, treatment and research into dementia in all regions of the world,” wrote Daisy Acosta, Chairman of ADI and Marc Wortmann Executive Director of ADI. These words exemplify how critical it is that support for finding a cure for this terrible condition continues, and we hope you will support our local Alzheimer’s Association’s Memory Walk which starts at Custom House Plaza in Monterey October 16 at 10:00 a.m. This disease, unfortunately, is underfunded compared to many other illnesses. Recently published research from the U.K. suggest that a 15-fold increase is required to reach parity with research into heart disease, and a 30-fold increase to achieve parity with cancer research.
The ADI report noted that people with dementia, their families and friends are affected on personal, emotional, financial and social levels. Lack of awareness, however, is a global problem and the economic impact on families is insufficiently appreciated. This is obvious for anyone caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s or dementia, but it’s surprising how many people are unaware of the emotional and financial toll it takes. In the U.S. and other developed countries there is a growing awareness of the problem, although the report noted that medical help-seeking is relatively unusual in low and middle income countries, where dementia is often viewed as a normal part of ageing. This is a double sided coin: Although the cost of care in these lower income countries is small, as awareness rises and more families seek medical treatment, costs will undoubtedly increasee in these countries. The report projected that there will be an 85% increase in costs by 2030, based only on predicted increases in the number of people with dementia and said there is an urgent need to develop cost-effective packages of medical and social care that meet the needs of people with dementia and their caregivers across the course of the illness, and evidence-based prevention strategies. Please click here to read the full report from ADI. http://www.alz.co.uk/research/files/WorldAlzheimerReport2010.pdf
http://memorywalk.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=335908&lis=1&kntae335908=D65D6DDFA8BC4A8EACB8AA1EEBAED961&team=3791143
About the Author
After more than a decade of caregiving, both in a professional environment and for a 97 year old family member Richard Kuehn was dissatisfied with service from local caregiving agencies. He became convinced of the need for a service which provides very personal assistance to the elderly and founded Family inHome Caregiving serving the Monterey Peninsula.