Message from the Minister of Health – Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

January is Alzheimer's Awareness Month. Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia are having a substantial and growing impact in Canada and around the world. It is estimated that the number of people living with dementia worldwide will increase from 57 to 83 million by the end of this decade, and to 152 million by 2050.

January 9, 2023 | Ottawa, ON | Public Health Agency of Canada

Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia are having a substantial and growing impact in Canada and around the world. It is estimated that the number of people living with dementia worldwide will increase from 57 to 83 million by the end of this decade, and to 152 million by 2050. In fact, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and contributes to the majority of dementia cases.

The Government of Canada remains committed to supporting the more than 450,000 Canadians living with diagnosed dementia, their families, and caregivers. That is why we are working with organizations across the country to address dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, through Canada’s first national dementia strategy, A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire. Through the collective efforts of stakeholders across Canada, we can increase awareness, help reduce the risk of developing dementia, reduce stigma, improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and their caregivers. Through the Strategy, we can also enable dementia-inclusive communities, enhance surveillance, and continue important research.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is supporting this Strategy through various funding initiatives including providing funding to S.U.C.C.E.S.S., a social service agency in British Columbia, to develop and deliver culturally appropriate awareness and educational workshops in various languages to East Asian immigrant communities. It is also supporting McGill University’s bilingual Dementia Education Program that is being adapted into a virtual platform to educate and support caregivers of people living with dementia who reside in diverse communities throughout Montreal and remote communities in Quebec.

Understanding dementia better requires targeted research. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is launching the Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging Research Initiative in 2023. This initiative will encompass research across the continuum from the healthy aging brain through cognitive impairment to the care of those impacted by dementia. The goals are to create knowledge about brain aging, identify and reduce risks that could result in dementia, and mobilize knowledge to change approaches to brain health. Additionally, this research initiative will lead to improved care, valuable programs and services for people with dementia and to strategies that will enhance the health and wellbeing of caregivers and care providers.

This January, for Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, I encourage you to visit Canada.ca/dementia to learn more about dementia, what Canada is doing to support the national dementia strategy and the steps you can take to help lower the risk of developing dementia. You will also find tips on how to communicate in a supportive way with people living with dementia and how to reduce the stigma related to dementia.

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P.

Contacts

Guillaume Bertrand
Senior Communications Advisor and Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Health
613-957-0200

Media Relations
Public Health Agency of Canada
613-957-2983
media@hc-sc.gc.ca