The Committee on Environment and Public Health (ENVI) holds a workshop on the Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Brussels

meeting

Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

MATIAS, Marisa (The Left, PT)

healthcare safety (T)

Alzheimer's disease: extracts from the Workshop

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Marisa MATIAS (GUE/NGL, PT), rapporteur, underlines the importance of listening the voices of experts and patients associations in order to better understanding and tackling the problems of the citizens who suffer this problem.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nick FAHY, Head of Unit Health Information, European Commission, raises the problem of the financing of long-term nursing care for mental patients: long-term care and support is an expensive thing and in many member states not only the families face with the personal challenge of having one of their loved ones who is affected by this condition but then thy also face with financial consequences of what financing this care means for their savings; there are models in Europe, for example in Germany (...) these are the kind of things that we think can be shared throughout the EU.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sabine HENRY, Ligue Alzheimer, Belgium, <p>Those loosing their cognitive capacities for expressing themselves must be supported for having the quality life they deserve, they cannot be punished because they are ill. The solution is information and support for them; I am glad of being here and listen to your conclusions.</p>

SOUNDBITE (English), Jean GEORGES, Executive Director Alzheimer Europe, I've tried to give you a picture of why we believe that dementia is a European priority but I am also hoping to be able to show you that we don't just share the European Commission and Parliament's commitment to having dementia as a priority, but we also share the EC's focus on early diagnosis, research, care and patient rights.

SOUNDBITE (English), Dr Giovanni FRISONI, Deputy Scientific Director, IRCCS, Brescia, Italy, explains why the early diagnosis is so important, so that drugs can be used for delaying the advance of the symptoms and "keep the patient in the area of mind memory disturbances, with no disability, which is associated with a reasonably high quality of life.