Dementia is a significant and increasing public health problem that impacts individuals, their family and friends, care-givers and society. Dementia is characterised by a combination of symptoms that affects thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgment.
Dementia remains one of the toughest challenges in health and social care. Despite scientific progress over the last 25 years, addressing dementia remains a national and international challenge. Stigma, denial and inadequate financial resources remain key barriers to proper treatment and care. The development and implementation of a Turkish National Dementia Plan, to close the gap between ‘what we know’ and ‘what we do’ in dementia care, can play a key role in meeting the needs of people with dementia, their informal carers and the wider society. The direct and indirect economic costs for dementia are estimated to be higher than the costs of any other major disease.
The proposed dementia care model, presented in this document, is developed in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Policy. The model attempts to address these gaps at a national and strategic level. It provided a framework that is coherent with a proposed wider elderly care model for Turkey. The dementia care model constitutes part of a wider project aimed at increasing the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and is based on:
- An in-depth review of international policy and best practice in dementia care in three European countries (The Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom) reflecting different national care models;
- Assessment of current situation of residential and home-based services for elderly with Alzheimer’s and Dementia problems in Turkey;
- Field visit to an institution providing dementia care in Eskisehir province; and
- Discussions with the Ministry of Family and Social Policies personnel, managers and directors at the national level and at Eskisehir province.
This project was supported by with the resources of the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA I) funding.
citation:
Özbabalik, D and Hussein, S. (2017) Developing a Turkish Dementia Care Model. The Ministry of Family and Social Policy, Ankara, Turkey.
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Founder and Director
Shereen Hussein is a Health and Social Care Policy professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom.
Shereen Founded the MENARAH Network in 2019, through an initial grant from the Global Challenge Research Fund, UKRI. She is a medical demographer with expertise in ageing, family dynamics, migration and long-term care systems. Shereen regularly collaborates with the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank in policy and research focused on ageing in the Middle East and North Africa Region.
Shereen received her undergraduate degree in statistics and a postgraduate degree in computer science at Cairo University. She completed an MSc in medical demography at the London School of Hygiene and a PhD in quantitative demography and population studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
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