Alzheimer's disease must be a health priority says MEP

2.30.00pm GMT Tue 14th Oct 2008

Liz Lynne MEP

Liz Lynne, MEP for the West Midlands, has signed a written declaration in the European Parliament declaring that the study and treatment of Alzheimer's disease should be made a public health priority.

The declaration which, if signed by half of the Euro- MPs, will trigger a debate on the issue in the Parliament, urges European Member States to develop an EU wide action plan on the disease and to focus on ensuring early diagnosis of patients in order to help them better deal with the illness. Currently 6.1 million European citizens are diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of Dementia, but scientists predict that this number could as much as triple by 2050 as a result of the ageing population.

Liz Lynne, spoke to-day, who is the co-Chair of the European Parliaments All Party Intergroup on Ageing said that all Member states need to do better when it comes to Alzheimer's: "Alzheimer's is truly terrible disease and we must do more to ensure sufferers and their families are given all the help they need so as they have the best quality of life possible."

"We also need to invest serious time and effort into finding new treatments and even cures for Alzheimer's. We have to do all we can to find the cause of this illness and to combat it. With an ageing population the problem is only going to get worse, which is why I fully support this call to develop a European wide research strategy that can make a significant impact on our understanding of, and how we treat, Alzheimer's."

Notes:

The full text of the written declaration can be found at:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+WDECL+P6-DCL-2008-0080+0+DOC+WORD+V0//EN&language=EN