China grapples with dementia care as country rapidly ages
- Health authorities seek to raise awareness and train carers for patients in three-year campaign
- Dementia is more prevalent in China than on average around the world – and the problem is only expected to grow
In a notice to local health authorities this week, the National Health Commission said the campaign had three goals: raising social awareness about dementia, better identification of patients, and training for carers.
It said local governments “with enough resources” should offer annual screening tests for cognitive impairment to people aged at least 65 years.
Intervention and guidance should be given to those who show early signs of cognitive decline, and treatment offered to those diagnosed with the condition.
It also orders local health authorities to train carers and staff for “memory clinics”, government facilities set up in recent years to help dementia patients. Other social welfare organisations should provide rehabilitation, care and emotional support for patients, the commission said.
The notice said health authorities should also explore ways to set up support networks of grass-roots Communist Party committees, clinics and volunteers.
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The campaign is part of the 10-year Healthy China Initiative launched in 2019 to reduce chronic disease in the population and the burden on the health system.
There are more than 15 million people aged over 60 with dementia in China, including 9.83 million with Alzheimer’s, according to the China Alzheimer Report published in the peer-reviewed journal General Psychiatry in March last year.
With more than a quarter of the world’s total, China has the world’s highest number of dementia patients.
The prevalence of dementia in China is also higher than the world’s average. The report said 788.3 people per 100,000 had the condition in China, compared with the worldwide average of 682.5 cases per 100,000 people.
The report, written by a group of experts from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, did not say why the incidence was higher.
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Dementia is one of the top five causes of death in the country but there is little understanding of it in the community.
“The country’s diagnosis and treatment rate for Alzheimer’s remains low, with few medical specialists and minimal public awareness,” the report said.
The demand for care is only expected to increase, with the World Health Organization forecasting the number of people in China aged over 60 to rise to 28 per cent of its population by 2040. In the 2020 national census 18.7 per cent were in the demographic.
Dementia refers to impaired ability to remember, think and make decisions. Its causes include a combination of age-related changes in the brain, along with genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
Early diagnosis and intervention can also affect prevalence.
