On September 21, 2011, the world is to celebrate the "World Alzheimer's Day", under the theme: (Faces of Dementia). Its main purpose is to be identified with the hardships and challenges of the dementia disease (Alzheimer), and shed light on it, as well as the suffering of its victims around the world.
It also calls for exerting every effort and working unremittingly, in order to enhance health care and increased support for Alzheimer's patients and their families.
Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disease of the brain leading to the irreversible loss of neurons and the loss of intellectual abilities, including memory and reasoning, which become severe enough to impede social or occupational functioning Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, leading up to death in many cases.
It was named (Alzheimer) after the German physician Alois Alzheimer, who had been the first to describe the disease, in 1906, before scientists of the past century managed to discover a lot of important facts related to the disease.
It should be noted that the number of cases suffering from Alzheimer mounted in 2009 to 36 million patients around the world. This number is expected to be doubled to reach 66 million patients in 2030, and 115 million patients by 2050.
It has been observed that the incidence of the disease is continuously increasing amid the middle-income and poor social classes.
International Date: 21/9/2011
Local Date: 23/10/1423H
Theme of World Alzheimer's Day 2011:
(Faces of Dementia)
Targeted Group:
- Alzheimer's (Dementia) patients and their families.
- The elderly.
- Medical staff, including doctors, nurses, social workers and health educators.
- The concerned health associations and institutions (Saudi Alzheimer's Disease Association).
- All the community members (public).
Objectives and General Mission of the World Alzheimer's Day 2011:
The World Alzheimer's Day (Dementia) aims to draw attention to the local efforts exerted, and the international solutions put suggested, in an endeavor to accomplish the following:
- To encourage providing and enhancing the health care offered to Alzheimer (Dementia) patients and their families.
- To improve and reinforce the health awareness regarding Alzheimer's (Dementia) disease around the world.
- To establish medical centers aiming to supporting Dementia patients and caring for them throughout the different stages of the disease.
- To identify and record the number of Dementia (Alzheimer's) patients.
- To assess and develop the quality of the health care, social care, and other services offered to the Dementia patients.
- To assess the accessibility and availability of the diagnostic services of Alzheimer in the region.
- To make guiding surveys and to enhance the concept of Mental Health.
Logo of World Alzheimer's Day 2011:
References and websites that can be referred to:
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