World Alzheimer’s Day today: Here’s what you need to know about this Disease

World Alzheimer’s Day is observed on September 21, every year to raise awareness, educate about Alzheimer’s and Dementia. This day is celebrated to understand the importance of talking about dementia and demystify it. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that causes brain cells to degenerate and die.

It is the most common cause of dementia- a continuous decline in thinking, behavioral, and social skills that disrupts a person’s ability to function independently. It is more common in people above the age of 60 but it can sometimes the early onset of Alzheimer’s can be noticed between the ages of 30 and 60.

As per Alzheimer’s Disease International data, Dementia affects 50 million people worldwide, with a new case of dementia occurring somewhere in the world every 3 seconds.” 

The theme for World Alzheimer’s Month 2020 is ‘Let’s talk about dementia’. This day is also celebrated as an international campaign to raise awareness and highlight issues faced by people affected by dementia. One can see this day as an opportunity for people to demonstrate how can anyone overcome these issues and help people cope with dementia.

It is an important month as dementia is one of the biggest challenges for nearly 50 million people living with dementia.

According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, “2 out of every 3 people globally believe there is little or no understanding of dementia in their countries. The impact of World Alzheimer’s Month is growing, but the stigmatization and misinformation that surrounds dementia remain a global problem, that requires global action.”

This is the 9th World Alzheimer’s Month, it was launched in 2012.

According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, a group of more than 80 Alzheimer’s associations in the world, it takes about 20 years before an Alzheimer’s patient starts to show symptoms. Most people just live with this disease, unaware.

It is not known why people develop dementia, there are many factors that have been suggested to be linked to the development of this disease which included old age, family history, lifestyle and health, diabetes, obesity, depression are also linked to dementia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)