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Alzheimer’s disease alone costs 1% of global GDP

Alzheimer’s and other dementias are exacting a massive toll on the global economy.

Alzheimer’s and other dementias are exacting a massive toll on the global economy,with the problem set to accelerate in coming years and India will be one of the countries that will bear the brunt of this degenerative disease,finds a landmark report on the Global Economic Impact of Dementia.

The Report t issued on World Alzheimer’s Day by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) in association with Alzheimer’s & Related Disorders Society of India,provides the most current and comprehensive global picture of the economic and social costs of the incurable age-related illness.

The report was jointly authored by Anders Wimo of the Karolinska Institutet,Stockholm,Sweden; and Martin Prince,Institute of Psychiatry,King’s College,London,UK.

The report was released simultaneously in New Delhi,New York and London on the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Day. In India the landmark report was released by Union Minster of Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Mukul Wasnik during the concluding session of 2-day-long National Dementia Summit. More than three hundred distinguished delegates from across the country.

“This is a wake-up call that Alzheimer’s and other dementias are the single most significant health and social crisis of the 21st century,” said Marc Wortmann,Executive Director of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI). “World governments are woefully unprepared for the social and economic disruptions this disease will cause.”

The report reveals:

*The worldwide costs of dementia will exceed 1% of global GDP in 2010,at US$604 billion.

*If dementia care were a country,it would be the world’s 18th largest economy. If it were a company,it would be the world’s largest by annual revenue exceeding Wal-Mart (US$414 billion) and Exxon Mobil (US$311 billion)

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*The number of people with dementia will double by 2030,and more than triple by 2050.

The report combines the must current prevalence data from the World Alzheimer Report 2009 with improved data on low and middle-income countries from the 10/66 Dementia Research Group studies in Latin America,India and China. The report uses representative population-based samples from developing countries to better quantify the cost of informal care systems that have previously been excluded from impact estimates.


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