Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Addressing Dementia
The OECD Response
The large and growing human and financial cost of dementia provides an imperative
for policy action. It is already the second largest cause of disability for the over-70s
and it costs $645bn per year globally, and ageing populations mean that these costs
will grow.
There is no cure or effective treatment for dementia, and too often people do not
get appropriate health and care services, leading to a poor quality of life. Our failure
to tackle these issues provides a compelling illustration of some of today’s most
pressing policy challenges. We need to rethink our research an innovation model, since
progress on dementia has stalled and investment is just a fraction of what it is for
other diseases of similar importance and profile. But even then a cure will be decades
away, so we need better policies to improve the lives of people living with dementia
now. Communities need to adjust to become more accommodating of people with dementia
and families who provide informal care must be better supported. Formal care services
and care institutions need to promote dignity and independence, while coordination
of health and care services must be improved. But there is hope: if we can harness
big data we may be able to address the gaps in our knowledge around treatment and
care.