mr president nearly ten million europeans suffer today from dementia with alzheimer's the most common form
one of those statistics was my own mother who passed away last year
i therefore strongly welcome this european initiative on dementia
we should be very concerned that only half of cases are estimated to have been diagnosed
we should be very concerned that twice as many women as men suffer from dementia and we should be very concerned that with an ageing european population the number of sufferers will double in the next twenty years
given that a five-year delay in the onset of alzheimer's means fifty less prevalence rates i welcome the focus on prevention and early detection by the commission
i welcome the focus on better research in europe especially as we know that eighty-five of research today is without eu coordination
i also welcome the focus on the sharing of best practices and the rights of sufferers and their families
i and my fellow social democrat meps focused on the social aspects of dementia in our amendments and we urge the following we call for a strong focus on the specific needs of women who account for twice the number of sufferers and a disproportionate number of carers in the areas of medical and social research health employment and social policies
we renew our call on the commission to legislate for mental-health-at-work policies as part of their health and safety at work responsibility to incorporate persons with mental disorders into the labour market in the best way possible
we recommend an examination of the use of living wills across european borders which are so badly needed
finally we also highlight the importance in all awareness and education campaigns of the ability to recognise the symptoms of dementia
to conclude i should like to congratulate the rapporteur maria matias and thank her and my fellow shadow rapporteurs for their work on this report
