London, United Kingdom (AHN) – The worldwide costs of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is expected to exceed 1 percent of global GDP, or $604 billion USD in 2010, a landmark report on Global Economic Impact of Dementia revealed Tuesday.
“If dementia care were a country, it would be the world’s 18th largest economy. If it were a company, it would be the world’s largest by annual revenue exceeding Wal-Mart’s $414 billion and Exxon Mobil’s $311 billion,” the report assessed.
The number of people with dementias will double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050, thus exacting a massive toll on global economy with problem set to accelerate in coming years, according to World Alzheimer Report 2010.
The new study which was issued on World Alzheimer’s Day provided the most current and comprehensive global picture of economic and social costs of illness, the Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) said in a statement.
“This is a wake-up call that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are the single most significant health and social crisis of 21st century. World governments are woefully unprepared for social and economic disruptions this disease will cause,” said ADI chairman Dr. Daisy Acosta.
“The scale of this crisis cries out for global action. History shows that major diseases can be made manageable and even preventable with sufficient global awareness and political will to make substantial investments in research and care options,” ADI executive director Marc Wortmann added.
“This new report gives us the clearest, most comprehensive picture yet of global economic and social costs of dementia. We merged the best available data and most recent insights regarding worldwide economic cost of dementia. This enabled us to provide more detailed estimates than before by making use of recently available data that considerably strengthens evidence base,” explained author Prof. Anders Wimo.
“The care of people with dementia is not just a health issue, it is a massive social issue. This is particularly true in low and middle income countries which lack adequate systems of formal care. Governments must show greater leadership, working with all stakeholders to drive solutions to long term care issue,” co-author Prof. Martin Prince added.
Reports from individual countries such as UK suggested that dementias are one of costliest illnesses and yet research and investment is at a far lower level than for other major illnesses.
The report combines most current prevalence data from World Alzheimer Report 2009 with improved data on low and middle-income countries from 10/66 Dementia Research Group studies in Latin America, India and China.
View full post on All Stories
Comments are closed.