Budget must support dementia
Alzheimer’s Australia has asked the federal government to commit $200 million over five years to dementia research in the 2013-14 federal Budget. Ita Buttrose, national president of Alzheimer’s Australia and Australian of the Year for 2013, said there was no choice but to act now.
Alzheimer’s Australia has asked the federal government to commit $200 million over five years to dementia research in the 2013-14 federal Budget.
Ita Buttrose, national president of Alzheimer’s Australia and Australian of the Year for 2013, acknowledged that the federal government faces a difficult budget, but added there was no choice but to act now so Australia has a chance of working towards a ‘World Without Dementia’.
“Unless we properly support our medical researchers in their efforts to develop new treatments and new ways to prevent dementia, more than three million of us will develop dementia over the next 38 years,” she said.
“We have seen how we can treat diseases such as HIV/AIDS, some cancers and mental illness through medical research. What we need to do now is make the same commitment to research that will beat dementia.”
There are 321,000 Australians living with dementia today, and another 1.2 million who provide support and care for them.
Although dementia is the third leading cause of death in Australia and the second biggest source of public expenditure on health and aged care, dementia research is drastically underfunded in comparison to research on other chronic diseases.
“We have some of the world’s leading scientists working to understand and solve the diseases of the brain that cause dementia,” Ms Buttrose said.
“But we have failed over the past decade to support the research sector to grow to the size it needs to be. Our budget submission outlines a four-point plan that will address this issue at a cost of less than 1% of what we already spend on dementia care.”
With the support of the community, Ms Buttrose said Alzheimer’s Australia was playing its part in providing more than $2 million this year in support of new dementia researchers.
“I urge the federal government to do the same,” she said.
Read the Alzheimer’s Australia federal Budget Submission 2013.
