UK dementia awareness campaign launched
pharmafile | March 11, 2011 | News story | Medical Communications | dementia, disease awareness, disease awareness campaigns, stroke
The Department of Health has launched a £1.2 million awareness campaign which aims to alert people to the early signs of dementia in friends and relatives.
Piloted in the North-west and Yorkshire, the TV, radio and print advertising by agency DLKW Lowe will highlight the importance of early diagnosis and may be rolled out nationally if it is successful.
Care services minister Paul Burstow said people were scared of the idea of dementia and delayed seeking help for relatives.
“Rather than face the possibility someone they love has the condition, they can wrongly put memory problems down to ‘senior moments’,” he says.
“Don’t wait until a crisis forces your hand. Being diagnosed with dementia won’t make the condition worse but leaving it untreated will,” Burstow concluded.
The TV ads show a daughter beginning to realise that her father is struggling in a number of everyday situations.
Progressive and terminal, there is no cure for the various forms of dementia, but it can be slowed with treatment.
Pfizer/Eisai’s Aricept, Novartis’ Exelon, Shire’s Reminyl and Lundbeck’s Ebixa are indicated in the UK for various stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, for example.
However, just 40% of dementia sufferers in England receive a formal diagnosis, which means almost 400,000 people could be missing out on NHS support, the government says.
The campaign has been welcomed by patient groups. “A diagnosis of dementia is not just a label,” explains Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society. “It is vital to help people access support, get treatment and make sense of what is happening to them.”
He urged worried people to talk to their GP. “People with dementia and their families often tell us that they were fearful of a diagnosis but that it gave them certainty and the ability to begin understanding what they can do to live well with dementia,” Hughes added.
“Getting a timely diagnosis of dementia is vital and we know that those who do receive one don’t regret it,” agreed Professor Alistair Burns, national clinical director for dementia.
“On the contrary, knowing about their condition helps them gain control and allows them and their families to seek the services and support they need,” Burns said.
Stroke awareness campaign returns
Meanwhile, a reprise of Department of Health F.A.S.T. TV campaign telling people what to do in case of stroke is to run until 20 March. The government says there has been a significant decrease in awareness in the seven months it has been off air.
The graphic adverts, aimed at adults aged 55 and above, show fire spreading through a stroke victim’s brain, with the main message that helpers must act fast in calling the emergency services.
Adam Hill
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