Cindy
Current Event Posting Number: 1
Topic: Health
Title: Report: Alzheimer's disease causes global financial burden
Writer: Miriam Falco
Publication Name: CNN.COM
Date of Publication: Sep 21st, 2010
Length: 471 Words
MAIN IDEAS: On September 21, which has been designated as World Alzheimer’s Day, Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) would publish a report based on Alzheimer Disease. According to last year’s report, about 35.6 million people would be living with some form of dementia, which includes Alzheimer disease in 2010. This estimated number of patients would by doubled in 2030 and tripled in 2050. This year, the report focused mainly on the costs of medical care, services provided by family members for dementia patients. The report calculates that the total cost for care would be $604 billion, which equals to the GDP of the 18th large country, and about most of the cost occured in Western Europe and North America mainly. The United States has the highest cost, more than $48,000, of caring for a patient with any form of dementia. While in some South Asian countries, only $903 was cost. Johns, the president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, said that the U.S. government spends annually $6 billion on cancer research, $3 billion on HIV/AIDS that all have saved many lives. However, the National Institutes of Health funds annually $469 million for Alzheimer research. ADI is calling on all governments to take actions to recognize dementia as a health priority, to invent protections and treatment plans, and caring services for people with dementia. The increasing population of people with dementia has challenged many governments, but many countries have national Alzheimer’s plans, such as the National Alzheimer’s Project that has been introduced by the Congress in the U.S.
CONCLUSION: Many governments have been challenged with the crisis about the increasing populations of people with any form of dementia. At the same time, the costs used for caring dementia patients have also become an essential issue for governments. Governments and organizations are taking actions to raise awareness, to research for more preventions and finally to reduce the population number and the costs.
Maybe the United States needs to spend so much money on dementia patients because it has the largest elderly population? Because the US has the some of the best medicine, people are living longer than they have in the past.
ReplyDelete