British Prime Minister David Cameron is holding a meeting in London (11th December, 2013) on the funding of research for dementia. The summit of health ministers from the members of G8 are expecting to call for the doubling of research funds by 2025.

At the moment roughly 800,000 people suffer from dementia in the UK and it has been estimated that £23 billion is spent on dementia each year. It has been expected that the amount affected by dementia will increase by double when we reach 2040. 

So with a potential epidemic in dementia, the care required and the carers are going to need increased resources and a search for a cure is going to be demanded to cope with the growth. 

One of the biggest areas of concern is diagnosis with 45% wrongly diagnosed with having Alzheimer’s and it is hoped that new technology can help in getting the correct diagnosis. 

Another area of concern for the G8 will be prevention of dementia and a recent study by Cardiff University found that doing 5 things greatly reduced the incident of dementia. In fact the research found that doing 4 out of the 5 things decreased the chance of dementia or cognitive decline by 60%.  The 5 things to do were:

1. regular exercise

2. ate fruits and vegetables

3. remained at a healthy weight

4. drank in moderation

5. did not smoke 

We will bring a summary of the action that the G8 will be taking.