The Ministers of Health of the EU met in Luxembourg on 24 and 25 September to discuss, among others, ways to address dementia in a more pro-active way. Ministers in attendance stressed that dementia constitutes a ‘real socio-economic challenge’.
Ahead of this meeting, Eurodiaconia had addressed a letter to Ministers calling for quality, innovative and more effective strategies to deal with persons struggling with dementia and support their families. Against a background of rising dependency ratios and higher demand for dementia-related services, providers are faced with tighter public budgets and staff shortages that create added challenges to the supply of quality care.
The conclusions of the meeting constitute an encouraging starting point for more ambitious policies with regard to dementia. In line with Eurodiaconia’s messages, the Luxembourgish Minister of Health highlighted the need for individualised approaches to dementia intervention. She also called for dementia to be destigmatised, greater investment in research and an adaptation of the role and training of healthcare professionals in order to ensure the “best support possible” for patients and their families.
Importantly, the Minister also supported greater exchange of good practice in the field of dementia, for example through existing EU and World Health Organization (WHO) forums. In this regard, Eurodiaconia’s report “Supporting persons with dementia and their families: Good practice from Eurodiaconia members” provides a snapshot of flagship, innovative projects developed by diaconal service providers. You can download it here.