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Care is as vital as a cure

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Jeremy Hughes

CEO, Alzheimer’s Society & Chair, Global Alzheimer’s and Dementia Action Alliance (GADAA)

With no current cure, we must continue researching ways to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers too.


Research into dementia is slow and underfunded

Dementia is the biggest health and social care challenge we face. In the UK, someone develops dementia every three minutes and, while one million people will be living with dementia by 2021, dementia research still trails far behind other health conditions, after decades of underfunding.   

We are committed to researching ways to make quality of life better for people living with dementia.

As there’s currently no cure for dementia, it’s vital that people living with dementia receive good quality care that empowers them to live well and helps them to do the things they enjoy. Yet less than 5% of all dementia research, globally, addresses the care and support that people with dementia rely on every day. Today we have a major opportunity to harness the potential of technology to transform our understanding of dementia and how to manage it.

Balancing funds between biomedial and care research

Local health and social care services are facing many complex issues with limited resources. To offer the highest standard of care, in a cost-effective way, commissioners depend on research and evidence-based practice. Alzheimer’s Society funded centres of Excellence are making in-roads to build evidence, the UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI) offers new opportunities, but we urgently need to see further investment. 

Alzheimer’s Society is leading the way in rebalancing investment between biomedical and care research. We have invested £5.6 million in three care research centres of Excellence across the UK, and as a founding funder of the UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI), are supporting the investment of £20m for a care and technology work stream.

Until the day we beat dementia we are committed to researching ways to make quality of life better for people living with dementia in the UK and their carers too. 

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