Finding ways to prevent and cure dementia

Alex Gow Funerals applauds moves to help prevent and find a cure for dementia.

The Federal Government recently announced the ADNet registry and research program to research and deliver improvements for dementia care in Australia.

It’s estimated 1,700 Australians a week are joining the population living with dementia and without breakthroughs in beating this disease, that figure will reach 650 a day by 2050.

Dementia is already the biggest killer of Australian women and the second most common cause of death among the overall population, claiming more than 13,000 lives each year [and] this could be just the accelerator we need to win the race against dementia.

The ADNet is expected to:

• Establish a national network of memory clinics to speed assessment of cognitive disorders and improve specialist access for all Australians, through advanced imaging, genetics and lifestyle data

• Register and prepare volunteers for participation in clinical trials and other research programs, by providing them with state of the art diagnosis and tracking their disease trajectory

• Collate and compare data to chart dementia causes, progression and risks, and potential new treatments, while supporting research participants and benchmarking clinical care

• Ensure Australian and international data can be shared, providing unprecedented research access to global data and collaboration, to inform prevention, treatment, and care.

At present, an estimated 425,000 Australians are living with dementia [and] the potential power of ADNet is our best hope of preventing that number reaching more than one million by 2050.

Alex Gow applauds the Government’s commitment of $18 million to make this vision a reality enabling dementia researchers, clinicians, health service providers, industry and, most significantly, people living with dementia, their families and carers to work smarter together to provide better care for now, and for a future cure.