Global Health G Subcommittee on Africa

The Global Challenge of Alzheimer's Global Health G Subcommittee on Africa

Currently, more than 35 million people worldwide live with some form of dementia, a figure that is greater than the number of people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, which is about 33 million. By 2050, this population is projected to triple, in effect, to more than 115 million people. The total cost of dementia, treatment and care is estimated to be somewhere on the order of $604 billion, with about 70 percent of those costs now occurring in Western Europe and North America. As populations age across the globe, today's crisis may become tomorrow's, and will likely become, unless action is taken and cures are found, tomorrow's catastrophe.