UK Government pledges £66m for dementia research by 2015
PM says dementia is ‘one of the biggest challenges of our time’
The UK Government is to double funding for dementia research in the next three years to tackle ‘one of the biggest challenges of our time’, said Prime Minister David Cameron today.
Cameron aims to make the UK a world leader in the field and says it is a ‘scandal’ that more has not already been done.
Overall funding for dementia research is to reach £66 million by 2015, from £26.6m in 2010.
Dementia is thought to affect more than 800,000 people in the UK, with a cost to the UK economy of £23bn a year.
Cameron's ‘Challenge on dementia’ will focus on making sure that health and social systems are equipped to deal with the problem and radically step up research into cures and treatments.
‘One of the greatest challenges of our time is what I'd call the quiet crisis, one that steals lives and tears at the hearts of families, but that relative to its impact is hardly acknowledged,’ Cameron said.
‘Dementia is simply a terrible disease. And it is a scandal that we as a country haven't kept pace with it. The level of diagnosis, understanding and awareness of dementia is shockingly low. It is as though we've been in collective denial.’
He added: ‘We need an all-out fight-back against this disease, one that cuts across society.
‘We did it with cancer in the 70s, with HIV in the 80s and 90s. We fought the stigma, stepped up to the challenge and made massive inroads into fighting these killers. Now we've got to do the same with dementia.’
Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of Alzheimer's Society, said the Prime Minister’s announcement ‘marks an unprecedented step towards making the UK a world leader in dementia. Doubling funding for research, tackling diagnosis and calling for a radical shift in the way we talk, think and act on dementia will help to transform lives.’