According to data by the World Health Organization, every three seconds a person in the world develops this neurodegenerative disease, but the majority of them do not receive a proper diagnosis or adequate support.

Only 29 out of the 194 nations members of the World Health Organization have developed comprehensive plans to deal with this condition; among them Costa Rica, which has a national plan in action since 2014.

The country in the past three years has made efforts to be at the forefront of the latest advances and findings regarding treatment and proper handling of patients with Alzheimer’s through seven main actions: Human Rights, Empowerment and participation of people with dementia and their caregivers; practices based on scientific tests; investigation in the public and private sectors; collaboration of the different sectors in response to public health; equity in the public health response and rehabilitation; social and community sanitary care for dementia patients; development of care for dementia patients.

It is estimated that in countries with average or low income, 94% of the patients that suffer dementia receive care in their home, the majority of the times without any type of help.

Caring for these patients is a challenge for the public health system since at this time there isn’t any cure and because the population worldwide is aging. This is why the International Federation of Alzheimer’s Disease urges governments to create a early attention system that will allow patients to enjoy a better quality of life.

In 2015, 47 million people were diagnosed with this disease; estimations show that this number will reach 75 million in 2030 and 131 million by 2050.

Latin America will be the most affected area were cases are estimated will go from 8 million to 27 million by 2050; in Central America alone the number will likely go from 180 thousand people diagnosed in 2010 to 978 thousand in 2050.

When it comes to Costa Rica, in 2010 there were 30 thousand people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and estimates consider this number will increase on 433% by 2050.