Alzheimer Europe hosts online meeting of Government Experts on Dementia

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alzheimer Europe moved all of its scheduled summer meetings to an online platform. This included the meeting of the European Group of Government Experts on Dementia, which discussed issues including national dementia policy developments, as well as national and international work underway to address the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we examine some of the key themes discussed during the course of the meeting.

On 4 June, Alzheimer Europe hosted an online meeting of the European Group of Governmental Experts on Dementia comprised of policy leads in charge of dementia policies from national health ministries.

The meeting was attended by 44 people, including representatives of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (Department of Health and Social Care and Scottish Government). Representatives from the European Commission (DG RTD and DG SANTE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) also attended.

The meeting was split into two main sections, with the first one focusing on relevant European and national developments with regard to dementia strategies and policies, and the second dedicated to an exchange on initiatives and good practices to support people with dementia and their carers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the presentations and discussion in the first section, the group heard that:

Germany was in the course of preparing and finalising its first National Dementia y

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y Strategy, which would be published later in the summer (you can read our article on pages 18–19) The Netherlands highlighted that their current strategy would conclude this year, with a new strategy due to be prepared and published next year France outlined some of the tentative findings from the evaluation of its neurodegenerative diseases strategy which concluded in 2019, as well as some of the potential next steps for dementia policy in the country The European Commission provided an update on its proposed standalone EU4Health programme and the Commission activities on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health Alzheimer Europe provided an overview of the estimated prevalence of dementia in Europe based on its 2019 Dementia in Europe Yearbook.

In the second section dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO introduced the discussions by presenting the UN framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19 and the policy considerations developed by the WHO European region on strengthening and adjusting public health measures throughout the COVID-19 transition phases. It was noted that fundamental to the transition was good governance of health systems, data analytics to inform decision making, digital technologies to support public health measures and responsive communication with populations. The WHO also emphasised the need for a balance in exit strategies between infection control, economic considerations and the human rights and personhood of older people and people with dementia, particularly as these groups would likely be the last for whom measures are lifted.

An update on the work of the WHO in relation to its Global Action Plan on Dementia can be found on pages 25–26.

This was followed by short presentations on lockdown exit strategies by health ministry officials from Austria, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (an article on European exit-strategies can be found on pages 27–28). Overall, participants reported that following a reduction in the reported number of COVID-19 cases, countries were beginning to ease lockdown measures. During the course of the presentations, a number of common experiences and challenges began to emerge, including:

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y The gradual re-opening of in-person support services with additional infection control measures (e.g. fewer people, social distancing etc.) The move of many services to online and digital formats to provide continuity of support for people with dementia and carers, e.g. digital consultations, support groups etc. The challenges around lifting measures for residential care facilities, including lifting restricted visiting rights for families and carers with examples provided of outdoor visits, time-limited visits and dedicated visiting rooms The emergence, in some countries, of regional approaches to responding to the virus which take into account different levels of government and regional differences in infection rates.

The Group is expected to meet again in December 2020, which is likely to take place online.