DIRECTOR of the Chief Tony Anenih Geriatric Centre at the University College Hospital (UCH), Dr Lawrence Adebusiyi, has said dementia, a reason many elderly people experience impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interfere with doing everyday activities, is highly misunderstood but real in the community.

Dr Adebusuyi disclosed this during the inaugural meeting of the Ibadan community advisory board for the Recruitment and Retention of Alzheimer’s Disease Diversity Genetic Cohorts Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (READD-ADSP), at the UCH, Ibadan.

The geriatrician stated that due to the low awareness about dementia in Nigeria, affected older persons are termed difficult to deal with, stubborn by people around them, filled with an evil spirit or influenced by a bad spirit, or called names and stigmatised in the community.

“Most people don’t understand them; they lack the understanding of how best to speak to them in a language that they can understand. It is not that they don’t want to do things that they are told; it is just that they cannot do so because this is a brain problem,” he stated.

He declared that the condition cannot be cured, but it is treatable if detected early, to prevent its progression to its severe form, which causes poor quality of life and living.

“By the time one gets to the community, a lot of dementia cases will be seen. You will be surprised that even people who should be enlightened, including health workers, don’t know about dementia. Some will even tell you that it does not exist; shout at them, and so on.

“But the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interfere with doing everyday activities is not a sudden thing. The condition cannot be cured, but by the time families start to notice things like this, the affected person can be helped so that it does not degenerate further.”

Dr Adebusiyi stated that although a previous study put the prevalence of dementia in 2016 at 4.9 percent, the number of cases in the community is much higher.

According to him, “The READD-ADSP is to be able to have a true picture of the problem in the community and how we can advise the government appropriately on the condition.”

Dr Temitope Farombi, a neurologist and the project’s community engagement leader, also stated the need for Nigeria to have a comprehensive healthcare policy on dementia to ensure long-term care for the problem.

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