Global Health G Subcommittee on Africa

A Global Update on Alzheimer's Disease Global Health G Subcommittee on Africa

Alzheimer's is a cruel disease, robbing its victims of their memories and their very identities and robbing their families and friends of the person they know and love. There are an estimated 47 million people in the world living with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia-more than the entire population of Spain, according to a report by Alzheimer's Disease International. The number of victims who have Alzheimer's is projected to double every 20 years. So we are in a race like few other diseases because it is proliferating so fast throughout the globe. According to Dr. Marie Bernard, the deputy director of the National Institute on Aging, the number is estimated to grow to 115 million by 2050 as populations around the world age. Although there is early onset, predominantly it is one of the byproducts of all of us aging and there seems to be a higher proclivity the older one gets. It has been estimated that once somebody reaches 85 the chances of some form of dementia is about one out of two. The total estimated global cost of addressing this condition today is $818 billion, but by as early as next year it is estimated that this cost will rise to at least $1 trillion-that is per year-and then it will go up from there.