Dementia

Dementia is a progressive and chronic condition in which there is disturbance of brain functions like memory, thinking, judgment, orientation, calculation, language, learning capacity and comprehension commonly accompanied or preceded by deterioration of motivation, social behavior and emotional control.

In developing countries, the population is ageing more rapidly than any time in the history. It is estimated that by 2050 the world population over the age of 60 will be 2 billion. A clearly negative effect of rapid ageing of the population is the increase in the number of people with dementia. Although dementia mainly affects older people, it is not a normal part of ageing. The World Health Organization/Alzheimer’s Disease International collaborative report, “Dementia: a public health priority” published in 2012.

estimated that in 2010, there were 35.6 million people living with dementia worldwide, increasing to 65.7 million by 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050. Two-thirds of older people with dementia live in low and middle income countries. In Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region it is estimated that the number of people living with dementia will increase from 1.15 million in 2010 to 2.59 and 6.19 million by 2030