Dementia Australia Media Release
Dementia is now the leading cause of death for Australians, according to the latest update of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) Dementia in Australia report.
The update, which was released today, also found that without a significant intervention, the number of Australians living with dementia will exceed 1 million by 2065.
Dementia Australia CEO Professor Tanya Buchanan said the report, released in the lead-up to Dementia Action Week (15-21 September), reveals the enormous impact dementia has on Australian families.
“These figures highlight just how many families are impacted by dementia across Australia. Most of us know someone who is or has been impacted by dementia,” Professor Buchanan said.
“People affected by dementia often tell us that friends and family drift away after a diagnosis, because they are unsure of how to interact.
“That’s why the theme for this year’s Dementia Action Week – which starts on Monday 15 September – is ‘Nobody can do it alone’. We are challenging Australians to reconnect with someone impacted by dementia to help combat the high levels of social isolation many experience.”
Dementia Australia Dementia Advocate Lil Mirtl, who lives with dementia, said the report highlighted how important it was to act now to provide the support and services for people living with dementia.
“We don’t have time to feel uncomfortable or awkward about these conversations about dementia – we need to have them now.”
“We have to pull together as a community to do this. We can’t do it alone as individuals, the government can’t do it alone, we need to all act together.”
The update to the Dementia in Australia report also revealed that 43 per cent of the dementia burden in Australia can be attributed to six modifiable risk factors: being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure in midlife, smoking and impaired kidney function.
“With dementia now the leading cause of death for Australians it is more pressing than ever that the federal government commit to funding a national conversation on dementia to raise awareness and promote brain health at all ages,” Professor Buchanan said.
“By taking a comprehensive approach to addressing dementia, we can reduce the impact of dementia into the future. With aged care across the country already under pressure, and the number of people living with dementia expected to exceed 1 million by 2065, we simply cannot afford to wait. We call on the government to take decisive action. People living with dementia, their families and carers are depending on us to do this right, and to do it now.”
Visit dementia.org.au/dementiaactionweek to access a range of resources and information to support Australians to reconnect with someone impacted by dementia.
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“..The update to the Dementia in Australia report also revealed that 43 per cent of the dementia burden in Australia can be attributed to six modifiable risk factors: being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure in midlife, smoking and impaired kidney function…”
The purple elephant in the room (but never mentioned in mainstream media) is aluminium!! From our earliest years we are exposed to aluminium via vaccine adjuvants, (don’t dismiss this as a anti-vax rant), aluminium cooking utensils, (never used before C1900), anti-perspirants, cosmetics, food foil, etc. Aluminium is the most widely distributed elemental metal but is not essential for mammalian life as is carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron etc; in fact it is cumulatively neurotoxic, ie; it is permanently deposited into brain tissue associated with amyloid plaques that are diagnostic features of most forms of dementia. Ask any pathologist who conducts autopsies – that fact has been known for decades.
I’ve warned folk before about what comes of reading Murdoch or watching Stokes.
I’m sure, from old studies, that there is no risk from aluminium in supplied water, and that pots do not leach out dangerous levels of “dissolved” aluminium. More accurate study is necessary, ongoing.
Phil, It is fluoride. It was meant for teeth, but everyone knows it was a socialist plot to dumb down the kiddies.
P W., when my kiddies were little, and Lismore water was not flouridated, they would swallow the nice (just out, flouridated) toothpaste residue as we suggested. They still have excellent teeth. (wish I had up top) And, the spread of aluminium cookware from one hundred years ago has been excellent by old studies.
People are living longer; they now die from conditions that were relatively rare when average lifespans were shorter.
And the irony is, although such tests are available, there’s no early testing before the onset of noticeable dementia (by which time it’s too late). With such a 3 minute test, early warnings can mean early lifestyle changes and therapy to stem full-blown dementia.
https://theconversation.com/alzheimers-disease-new-three-minute-test-can-spot-memory-issues-heres-how-it-works-and-what-it-can-tell-you-264519