The Barbados Alzheimer’s Association and its global partner Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) on Thursday urged the Government and local health officials to act now to tackle dementia or face a spiralling public health crisis.With data showing that more than one million people in the Caribbean are likely to be living with dementia by 2050, the two bodies warned that the true scale of the problem has been underestimated and most countries are not prepared.“Dementia experts around the globe have demonstrated that we are en route to an extraordinary increase in the prevalence of dementia over the coming years. We know that any other disease which had been predicted to increase in less than 30 years would most certainly have the attention of the government. Frustratingly, however, most governments still do not have dementia plans in place, despite committing to developing them in 2017,” lamented ADI’s chief executive officer Paola Barbarino.
