The OU Science Faculty is hosting a National Symposium on Dementia at the end of this month, at which a number of the UK’s leading clinical and non-clinical researchers will be presenting their work.
The event, which follows Dementia Awareness Week (19-25 May), is sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, British Neuroscience Association and the British Neuropathological Society, and aims to raise further awareness and understanding of dementia.
Dementia is a global health concern (WHO Report, 2012). Worldwide, more than 35 million people live with dementia and the number is set to double by 2030 and triple by 2050. Dementia has been flagged by Prime Minister David Cameron as one of the most important ‘challenges’ of our times, as the ageing population continues to grow. Improving dementia research and awareness are amongst the key priorities of the ‘PM’s challenge’.
The scale of dementia is vast - there are around three quarters of a million people living with dementia in England alone. The cost to the UK economy is estimated at £19 billion a year (more than cancer, heart disease and stroke combined), and one in three people are set to develop dementia in the future. The UK is a world leader in the field of dementia research.
Work carried out by the UK’s clinical and non-clinical scientists is at the leading edge of research on the international arena.
This essential work aims to translate findings gleaned from scientific and clinical investigations into interventions that will enable people with dementia to experience better quality of life, facilitate diagnoses that can be made more reliably and earlier, with the ultimate goal being to halt or prevent dementia.
This symposium brings together leading experts from across the UK, to present the latest findings and exchange ideas about dementia, promote discussion and debate aimed at raising awareness and elucidating our understanding of dementia. Themed sessions will cover global aspects (including social and cultural perspectives), diagnosis and assessment, genetics and neurobiology of the main forms (Alzheimer’s disease and non-AD dementias), interventions (treatment and management of dementia) and a selection of UK research highlights.
The sessions will emphasise ‘cutting-edge’ research that has shaped and developed our understanding of dementia over recent years, and progress that is currently being made to tackle dementia.