On 28 March 2025, ADI CEO Paola Barbarino travelled to St. Paul’s Bay, Malta to speak as a keynote speaker at a symposium hosted by Dementia Care Directorate, Active Ageing and Community Care. This year, the symposium was titled Empowering Minds: Innovation and Compassion in Dementia Care and sought to bring together experts from the fields of policymaking, research, healthcare, caregiving, and advocacy to explore the ever evolving and crucial landscape of dementia care and support.
The purpose of the symposium was to highlight the emerging synergy between two central dimensions of dementia care: innovation and compassion, aiming to expose the delicate balance between inspiring innovations within the field, while also utilising compassionate practices that work to uphold the dignity of people living with dementia. Events such as this one, which work to emphasise the importance of person-centred dementia care and support, are pivotal to challenging the stigma surrounding dementia. This event was attended by Minister for Health of Malta, Jo-Etienne Abela, highlighting the important focus placed on active ageing, caregiving and including the voices of those living with dementia by the Ministry of Health.
To learn about the ADI member in Malta
The 2024 World Alzheimer Report surveyed over 40,000 people ranging from healthcare professionals, people living with dementia, cares and the general public and found that 65% of health and care professionals still believe that dementia is a normal part of ageing, up from 62% in 2019. As well, 80% of the general public think dementia is a normal part of ageing, a dramatic increase compared to 66% in 2019. Stats like these show how important stigma can be as a barrier to timely care and diagnosis for people living with dementia. Including compassion and positioning the individual living with dementia at the centre of dementia-related policies creates more meaningful and positive change towards dementia stigma.
During her keynote address, Paola’s presentation addressed both the current and future work that ADI is undertaking, while also taking a moment to showcase recent, important, and exciting advances in dementia treatments and diagnostics. As of April 2024, within the Alzheimer’s drug development pipeline, there were 164 clinical trials assessing 127 different drugs. Of these 164 trials, 34% assess disease-modifying biological agents, 41% test disease-modifying small molecule drugs, 10% evaluate cognitive enhancing agents, and 14% test drugs for the treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms. She also touched on the advances being made to dementia diagnostics; the emergence of blood-based biomarkers (BBMs) which aim to aid in early detection of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, along with innovations in cognitive assessments, and the discovery of fluid-based biomarkers as potential indicators of Alzheimer’s disease.
The keynote address didn’t only focus on pharmaceutical advances, but also touched on new assistive technologies that are being developed to aid those with dementia in their day-to-day life with the hope of encouraging independent living and individual identity for as long as possible. A 2025 study by Martin, S., & Jones, C. H. indicated that people living with dementia were very interested in receiving new information regarding assistive technologies as they believe it can be a way to preserve their identity when living with the condition.
ADI’s member in Malta, Malta Dementia Society, was present at the symposium, and also spoke during the event.
About the event, Paola said:
In Malta, I took part in a brilliant and packed conference on compassionate care and innovation in dementia. Malta has always been so supportive of the work that ADI undertakes, and should be proud of all they have achieved, particularly as they continue to involve caregivers and people living with dementia in all that they do. One of the best parts of my job is having the opportunity to listen and to learn from others, and to share what I’ve learned as well. Thank you Malta for the chance to speak at this incredibly important event and allow me to share the great work that’s going on both at ADI and in the field of dementia care and support.