Dementia world leaders
The 2013 Alzheimer’s Disease International Award recognised Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, for Australia’s “efforts in improving the lives of people with dementia and their carers”.
The 2013 Alzheimer’s Disease International Award recognised Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, for Australia’s “efforts in improving the lives of people with dementia and their carers”.
Those efforts include the Fight Dementia campaign, making dementia a ‘national priority area’ and the federal government’s $3.7 billion Living Longer. Living Better aged care reforms, which provide a big boost to dementia funding and the broader aged care system.
Accepting the award from national president of Alzheimer’s Australia, Ita Buttrose, recently, Minister Butler said the award recognised Australia as leading the world and it was thanks to the whole community’s efforts to draw attention to the issue and demand better resourcing and support.
“Dementia has really achieved national prominence this decade – we’ve made it a national priority area with new funding and support, we’ve had Ita Buttrose recognised as Australian of the Year for her great work in this area and this award recognises the work of the whole Australian community to bring dementia out of the shadows,” Minister Butler said.
“Australia is a nation with a proud history of leading the world in medical and health breakthroughs, but also in the way we support people through Medicare and the broader health system.
“Dementia is likely to affect 900,000 Australians by 2050 and I’m proud that Australia is acting now in a whole range of areas like research, awareness and better services,” he added.
Minister Butler thanked Ms Buttrose, who made the nomination to Alzheimer’s Disease International, saying the organisation’s work was only matched by Ms Buttrose’s personal commitment to the issue.
“It’s with the tireless work of great Australians like Ms Buttrose, working with government and the broader community that we have come this far, but there is so much more we need to do.”
