In the fight against dementia, there is reason to be optimistic.
Last month, Health Canada gave the green light to a long-awaited drug that slows the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. The approval comes as researchers continue to learn more about what causes Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, and how best to treat and prevent it.
“We're going to see, within 10 years, better treatment and really precision diagnosis,” said Dr. Howard Chertkow, one of Canada’s leading experts on dementia, during a recent interview on our Closer Look podcast. “Together, I think this is going to be the transformational decade.”
But Chertkow, a senior scientist at the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, said Canada’s healthcare system still needs to do more to prepare for the ever-increasing number of dementia patients.
According to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, there are close to 800,000 people in the country living with some form of dementia right now — a number that’s expected to hit 1 million by 2030.
“Our health care system could do with a lot better planning,” Chertkow told the podcast. “You would think that the governments are planning carefully on how to deal with the chronic diseases of old people, but they're really not…With respect to dementia, we have fewer specialists looking after patients with dementia in Canada per capita than any other G7 country. We're short of MRIs, we're short of diagnostic equipment, we're short of personnel, and the system is not geared to look after older people.”
You can watch the full interview HERE.
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