The process of putting together a World Alzheimer Report is always an exciting time – after picking the year’s overarching theme, it is about finding how to best represent the various facets of this issue in an engaging way while providing a multiplicity of approaches.
This year’s report marked a five-year follow-up to the World Alzheimer Report 2019 Attitudes to Dementia, which saw ADI’s first landmark global survey on perceptions of dementia, and we were looking forward to once again commissioning the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Care Policy and Evaluation Centre. While we wanted to see whether there were significant changes in how people around the world saw the condition itself, and the people living with dementia, we also added some new questions to the survey around treatments and the perceived importance of one’s vote in changing dementia policy, to see if evolution in the scientific and political realms over the past few years was affecting people’s perceptions.
ADI knew we could count on our tireless and dedicated member associations to share the survey far and wide – but we were blown away by their creative efforts to spread the word, especially in lower- and middle-income countries. In Panama, AFAPADEA went as far as sticking QR codes for the survey on produce!
While the survey was under way, ADI’s publications team reached out to contributors to write essays that would end up in the report. The report essays were divided into expert essays looking at overarching themes affecting attitudes to dementia, as well as case studies of both stigma and initiatives addressing it. The process of commissioning essays was one of fruitful reflection; the five years since the last World Alzheimer Report on attitudes to dementia in 2019 have been deeply eventful on the global stage, and we wanted to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, and other high-level societal and cultural dynamics on dementia. As the global voice on dementia it was very important to ADI to elevate a diversity of voices in the report; reputable experts in the field, but also early-career researchers, advocates from the Global South, and, crucially, people with lived experience of dementia who could bring to life how stigma and awareness of the condition affect their lives. We hope that these efforts come through for the reader.
The importance of inclusion and visibility does not only limit itself to words, but also images. ADI was lucky to once again collaborate with talented photographers from around the world to show different faces of old age and dementia. We were especially grateful to be able to feature the visual and written work of Lee-Ann Olwage, a talented documentary photographer and visual storyteller from South Africa, on both the cover of the report and in the case studies chapter.
As the results of the survey came in, and as we received essays from our expert and lived experience contributors, we began to think about the recommendations that would form an essential component of the report. The survey painted a picture that was both alarming – with a rise in misconceptions such as dementia being a normal part of ageing – but also offered hope, with respondents feeling more confident to challenge stigma than they had been five years ago. Based on the lessons learned from the over 40,000 survey respondents from across the world, and the writers who shared their insights in their essays, ADI drew up a roadmap to improve attitudes to dementia at the public, structural, and individual level.
You can download your free digital copy of this year’s report through the button below:
Access the 2024 World Alzheimer Report
The 2024 World Alzheimer Report was launched on the eve of World Alzheimer’s Day, 20 September, during a special online webinar. You can watch the full recording on ADI’s YouTube channel.