Author calls for ‘top priority’ dementia action

The world “still doesn’t take much notice” of dementia and much more funding is needed for research, he said.

His comments come as a new report for Alzheimer’s Research UK shows that for every UK scientist working on dementia, six work on cancer.

A national poll also found people feared dementia more than cancer or even death.

Sir Terry, patron of the charity, said: “Alzheimer’s is a large number of small tragedies usually played out behind closed doors, so in spite of the numbers living with it, the world still doesn’t take much notice.

“When the world was shocked by HIV in the 80s we saw a crash programme of research which has helped tame it enormously. We need the same kind of aggressive action on dementia now.”

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people marks the re-launch of Alzheimer’s Research Trust as Alzheimer’s Research UK.

The charity is appealing to the public, Government and the private sector to help end years of “pitifully low” investment in research.

Asked what they feared the most, 31 per cent of people surveyed said dementia, while 27 per cent said cancer, and 18 per cent said death.

Dementia costs the UK economy £23bn, more than cancer (£12bn) and heart disease (£8bn) combined, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK. There are 820,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, and numbers are forecast to rise substantially in the next generation.

Charity chief executive Rebecca Wood said: “Public concern about dementia is at an all-time high, yet dementia research is still the poor relation in both capacity and investment.

“We have such brilliant research talent in the UK which could make real inroads into defeating dementia with more support – our brains depend on theirs.”

She added: “Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading dementia research charity, and the public has helped us fund hundreds of top scientists, including a record £4.5m of grants last year. Regrettably, charity and Government spending still lags far behind efforts made against other diseases.

“Dementia poses one of the greatest threats to public health now and in the future. We need the combined efforts of charities, Government and the private sector to defeat dementia.”

A dementia researcher at Leeds University, Prof Chris Peers, said: “There are currently over 7,500 people in Leeds affected by dementia, and if we are to find effective treatments that are so urgently needed, dementia research must be made a national priority.

“Dementia researchers in Leeds and across the UK are making real progress, and with support from Alzheimer’s Research UK, scientists are making important breakthroughs.

“Dementia is not a normal part of ageing – it is caused by brain diseases that we can beat, but we need more investment in the research that will give us answers.”

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said the “right standard” of research was needed.

He said: “The Department of Health’s research budget is nearly a billion this year – I want more of that funding to be supporting dementia research. But we can only do that if the number and quality of the research proposals are of the right standard to justify the investment.

“To help dementia sufferers and their families to benefit, we will help researchers to submit high quality proposals which advance our understanding of care, cure and cause.”