Up to 1.3 million people in Việt Nam suffer from dementia and it is forecast that number will rise in the future.— Photo tailieu.vn

HÀ NỘI — Up to 1.3 million people in Việt Nam suffer from dementia and it is forecast that number will rise in the future.

The information was revealed by Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Viết Tiến at the national conference on dementia, the first of its kind, which was held in Hà Nội last Friday. The conference also launched the executive board for the Việt Nam Geriatric Association.

Speaking at the conference, Tiến said the country’s population was nearly 100 million people, with average lifespan being 74-75 years old. Residents’ living standard increased, thus longevity increased, he said.

However, the older the people are, the more they are prone to dementia and Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. 

It’s one of those illnesses that not only affects the patients, but also their families and the whole community, said Tiến.

Professor Jean-Piere Michel, an expert from the International Society of Geriatric Oncology, said that different countries around the world, including Việt Nam, faced the risk of having more and more people suffering from dementia.

The world has one more person having the disease every three seconds which means a total of 7.7 million new patients each year.

At present, about 35.6 million people suffer from dementia globally, and 58 per cent of them are from countries with average and low income.

Dementia symptoms associate with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities.

Phạm Thắng, director of the National Geriatric Hospital, said dementia would lead to mental declining and consequently, high treatment costs.

At present, Việt Nam does not have any detailed programmes or services related to dementia. Therefore, the Việt Nam Geriatric Association’s foundation and conference related to the issue was necessary, said Thắng.

In the future, Việt Nam will strengthen the system of taking care of old people’s health.

“The work will help discover and manage diseases for old people and since then reduce expenses for treatment,” said Thắng. — VNS