Dementia in low- and middle-income countries

It is 100 years since Dr Alois Alzheimer, a German neurologist, observed changes in the brain that are now known to be the characteristic features of Alzheimer’s disease, the commonest form of dementia. Until recently this condition was thought to occur only infrequently in low- and middle-income countries; now it has been realised that the prevalence is as high in these countries as in the rest of the world. Further, because of the rapidly increasing numbers of older people in low- and middle-income countries, they contain far more people with dementia: 16 million compared with 8 million in high-income nations. How can ways be found to provide adequate care for people with dementia in these countries when resources, both skilled manpower and finance, are so limited? The thematic papers that follow address this issue.