World Alzheimer's Day - 21st September

As we approach World Alzheimer's Day, on the 21st September, it is sobering to think that dementia is now second only to heart disease as a cause of death in Great Britain. And yet £5.5 million is spent on Alzheimer's research in a year, compared to the £188 million spent annually on cancer - now nudged into third place in the league of killer diseases.

An estimated 800,000 people in Britain are currently suffering from dementia - and will eventually be killed by it. This is the illness that we most fear developing as we grow older, and yet NICE has decided that sufferers in the early stages of dementia should not receive treatments costing £2.50 a day which can slow down the development of symptoms. This decision was recently upheld by a judicial review, even though the drugs in question are widely available to sufferers in other parts of Europe.

Six million people in Britain currently act as informal carers for friends or relatives who are unable to live independently without support. Demographic changes are bound to have an impact, as longer lifespans bring a steady increase in the number of people suffering from age-related conditions such as Alzheimer's.

There are no cures, and so far, few effective treatments, a situation that can only improve slowly, if at all, while dementia remains the cinderella branch of medical research.

At the same time, there is a big question mark over the standard of care offered to sufferers. A survey last month suggested that nearly 60 percent of nurses would not report abuse of an elderly patient or care home resident, through fear of making an incorrect accusation or of reprisals. The same survey found that more than 10 percent of the nurses would not want one of their own relatives to be cared for in the institution where they work.

No wonder fear of finding ourselves increasingly frail and helpless as we get older is so prevalent!

So what can we do? First of all, on a personal level, we can make it less likely that we will develop dementia. Eating a healthy diet, high in fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fats, is a first step, along with giving up smoking and drinking alcohol moderately. There is good evidence that remaining physically active helps, as well as exercising mental faculties and maintaining social activities.

More money for research will depend on making dementia more compelling as a cause. Goodness knows, that should not be hard, given the statistics, but it is still the case that heart disease and cancer are the automatic choices of many when deciding where donations should be made. And as for the NHS - one articulate, high-profile cancer victim seems better able to influence spending decisions than an army of carers and dementia sufferers who tend to remain largely invisible.

We can make it clear to the government that more money needs to be spent on dementia care by supporting the campaigning organizations such as the Alzheimer's Society and Alzheimer Europe.

Politicians probably don't need reminding that older people are the most consistent voters: the party which pledges adequate resources to deal with a condition affecting one in 14 of the over-65s, one in six of the over-80s, is likely to see the benefits in the ballot box.