U.S. readies plan to fight Alzheimer's

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Jan 18 2012

Government health officials are meeting this week to develop a national strategy for treating and preventing the disease.

The Associated Press: U.S. Wants Effective Alzheimer's Treatment By 2025
The government is setting what it calls an ambitious goal for Alzheimer's disease: Development of effective ways to treat and prevent the mind-destroying illness by 2025. The Obama administration is developing the first National Alzheimer's Plan to find better treatments for the disease and offer better day-to-day care for those afflicted (Neergaard, 1/17).

USA Today: U.S. Launches National War On Alzheimer's
When doctors told Carol Blackwell that her husband -; her best friend and the love of her life -; had Alzheimer's disease, they assured her "a cure was just around the corner." ... Carol will be paying close attention to government meetings Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington where Health and Human Services officials are gathering with other medical experts to discuss the framework for the first national plan to fight the disease. The No. 1 goal stated in the early draft of the National Alzheimer's Project Act is to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer's by 2025 (Lloyd, 1/17).

CNN: As Baby Boomers Retire, A Focus On Caregivers
It's a scenario familiar to many across the United States as adult children become caregivers for aging and chronically ill loved ones. With the first of the baby boomers turning 65 in 2011, the number of Americans entering retirement age is expected to nearly double by 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration on Aging. As the country braces for the prospect of providing health care to roughly 72 million adults, the impact on caregivers is coming into focus. A study released last week found that Americans caring for aging and chronically ill relatives reported higher levels of stress, poorer health and a greater tendency to engage in unhealthy behaviors to alleviate stress than the population at large (Grinberg, 1/16).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.