Goan doctor receives world award for dementia work HERALD NEWS BUREAU
Goan doctor receives world award for dementia work HERALD NEWS BUREAU PANJIM, MARCH 18 Dr Amit Dias, secretary of the Dementia Society of Goa and lecturer at the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Goa Medical College received the prestigious Foundation Médéric Alzheimer and Alzheimer Disease International award for the best evidence based research on interventions for people with dementia. He received the award at a function that was held at the International Alzheimer’s conference in Thessaloniki-Greece on March 12. Dr Dias, who is also coordinator of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel for dementia at the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI), attributes the success of the project to the dedicated efforts of the whole team and the support from his family. The project was carried out under the leadership of Prof. Vikram Patel, professor of International Mental Health, LSHTM. The Dementia Society of Goa, is an NGO dedicated to the cause of serving families of people with dementia. It was established in the year 2002 and is currently under the able leadership of Dr Chicot Vas, consultant neurologist Goa Medical College. Hailing from Aldona but presently residing in Porvorim, Dr Dias is the coordinator of the 10/66 Dementia research group in India which is involved in conducting epidemiological studies aimed at gathering the evidence to shape public health policies that would be sensitive to the needs of the rising numbers of people with dementia in India. This is one of the first evidence based interventions in Asia on non pharmacological management for families of people with dementia. The project showed that home-based support for caregivers of persons with dementia, which emphasizes the use of locally available human resources, is feasible, acceptable and leads to significant improvements in caregiver mental health and burden of caring and has an impact on the quality of life of the people with dementia. Director of Fondation Médéric Alzheimer Michele Fremontier and Executive Director of ADI, Marc Wortmann informed that they received proposals from both from the developing and the developed countries and they felt that the project from India deserved the prize. The panel of judges consisted of distinguished epidemiologists, psychiatrists and even people with dementia on the panel. Dr Dias informed that the prize, which amounts to 18,000 Euros will be utilized for further disseminating the findings of the study and training people in using this evidence based intervention. The award is given in recognition of the research project on evaluating the effectiveness of community interventions for families of people with dementia in Goa. The project was funded by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India. Dr Dias is part of the team that is developing the national strategy for dementia in India, said that dementia is a major public health priority in the elderly in view of the demographic transition in this country. He informed that the draft national dementia strategy document will be presented to the Government of India by the end of this year. ARDSI believes that public health programmes for dementia should focus on community based interventions using the locally available resources as was done in this award winning project. http://www.oheraldo.in/news/Local%20News/Goan-doctor-receives-world-award-for-dementia-work/34803.html Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Anjuna, Goa Mob: 9420179201 _________________________________________________________________ The world in moving pictures http://news.in.msn.com/gallery/archive.aspx