Our vision
Our vision is risk reduction, timely diagnosis, care and inclusion today, and cure tomorrow.
Our mission
Our mission is to strengthen and support Alzheimer and dementia associations, to raise awareness and lower stigma about dementia worldwide, to make dementia a global health priority, to support and empower people living with dementia and their care partners, and to increase investment and innovation in dementia research.
Advocating for governments all over the world to deliver the WHO Global Action Plan on Dementia 2017-2025 is a key part of delivering our mission.
Our values
- Respect: Treating all people affected by dementia with respect and ensuring their rights are protected
- Integrity: Transparency in our relationships with each other and our external stakeholders
- Inclusiveness: Reaching out and enabling all stakeholders to be represented and heard equally without prejudice or discrimination while celebrating and leveraging our diversity
- Accountability: Being transparent and accountable, as well as fiscally responsible and effectively governed, with a commitment to excellence in all our work
- Cooperation: Developing mutually beneficial working partnerships and relationships
What we believe
Dementia is a progressive, chronic disease and there are daily challenges that 55 million people and their care partners experience, but there is hope for the future. ADI believes that:
- Every person with dementia has the right to receive a timely diagnosis, the right to receive post-diagnosis support, care and treatment that responds to their needs, and should have the best possible quality of life.
- Negative perceptions of the disease must be reversed, so that everyone accepts people with dementia for their abilities, instead of focusing on their deficits, and supports their disabilities.
- Care partners can and must be better supported in dealing with dementia.
- Primary care practitioners, nurses and care workers are key to disseminating knowledge and supporting people with dementia and the care partners and must be well informed about dementia.
- It may be possible to reduce risk of developing dementia at a population level through improving education, smoking cessation, control of diabetes and hypertension, avoiding head injury, moderating alcohol consumption, regular exercise, good diet, social engagement and mental activity, reducing pollution, and treating hearing loss, meaning that fewer people at particular ages develop dementia.
- Brain health promotion must be integrated into public health campaigns, with the message that it is never too early or too late in life to make changes.
- Ultimately there will be treatments that will effectively slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and it is essential that governments and health systems are prepared to regulate, pay for and make those accessible. This also includes diagnosis preparedness.
- As the pandemic and also disasters, wars and emergencies have shown, governments must address the needs of people living with dementia in these situations.
- Design solutions exist which can improve the lives of people with dementia and these should be used in domestic, institutional and public settings.
- If governments, global institutions, foundations, companies and individuals unite to take action, we can improve outcomes for people with the dementia and their care partners.
Strategic plan
Our strategic plan for July 2023 to June 2024 is available to read in full. As well as setting out our high level objectives, the plan also gives context including an overview of the world in which we operate and what we believe.
Objective 1 – Making dementia a global health priority
ADI will lead global advocacy efforts and support the national advocacy of member associations to make dementia a public health priority.
Objective 2 – Reducing stigma
ADI will seek to reduce stigma by increasing understanding of dementia, researching the issue, recognising cultural differences and acting to protect the rights of people living with dementia.
Objective 3 – Strengthening membership
ADI will meet the varying needs of Alzheimer and dementia associations and provide programmes that will enable members to best support people affected by dementia and their care partners.
Objective 4 – Facilitating research
ADI will facilitate and encourage research and innovation, including in care, prevention, healthcare systems, epidemiology, public health, effective treatments.
Objective 5 – Enabling ADI to achieve its objectives
ADI will develop funding plans to enable our objectives to be achieved and will use technology and modern communications to execute its Strategic Plan.