tinyMCE

[la démence: une priorité de santé publique]
The report “Dementia: a public health priority” has been jointly developed by WHO and Alzheimer's Disease International. The purpose of this report is to raise awareness of dementia as a public health priority, to articulate a public health approach and to advocate for action at international and national levels.
Dementia is a syndrome that affects memory, thinking, behaviour and ability to perform everyday activities. The number of people living with dementia worldwide is currently estimated at 35.6 million. This number will double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050. Dementia is overwhelming not only for the people who have it, but also for their caregivers and families. There is lack of awareness and understanding of dementia in most countries, resulting in stigmatization, barriers to diagnosis and care, and impacting caregivers, families and societies physically, psychologically and economically.
The report is expected to facilitate governments, policy-makers, and other stakeholders to address the impact of dementia as an increasing threat to global health. It is hoped that the report will promote dementia as a public health and social care priority worldwide.

Chronic, non-communicable diseases are a challenge of epidemic proportions. At a global scale, non-communicable diseases are estimated to cost $47 trillion by 2030. Europe currently has the highest number of deaths and disability in the world due to these diseases.
This paper represents the European Chronic Disease Alliance’s (ECDA) collective input to policy makers in the frame of the European Union’s reflection process on chronic disease, specifically called for in the Council conclusions of 7 December 2010 on “Innovative approaches for chronic diseases in public health and health care systems”. The ECDA would like to urge the European Commission and the Member States to include the recommendations provided herewith in any forthcoming strategy on chronic diseases.
For the purpose of this paper, the ECDA definition for “chronic diseases” is: Chronic non-communicable disease or conditions that are of long duration and generally slow progression, linked by common risk factors such as tobacco, physical inactivity, nutrition, alcohol, environment, and are largely preventable.
On the basis of these Council conclusions, this paper recommends a number of concrete measures that can be taken by the European Commission and Member States to tackle chronic diseases effectively. First and foremost the ECDA calls for a coordinated EU-led strategy to tackle the enormous challenge to societies posed by chronic diseases.

[Rapport 2012 sur l’état de l’art des activités relatives aux maladies rares en Europe - Partie I: Aperçu des activités sur les maladies rares en Europe ]
This document was produced by the Scientific Secretariat of the European Union Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases (EUCERD), through the EUCERD Joint Action: Working for Rare Diseases (N° 2011 22 01), which covers a three year period (March 2012 – February 2015).
The present report aims to provide an informative and descriptive overview of rare disease activities at European Union (EU) and Member State (MS) level in the field of rare diseases and orphan medicinal products up to the end of 2011. A range of stakeholders in each Member State/country have been consulted during the elaboration of the report, which has been validated as an accurate representation of activities at national level, to the best of their knowledge, by the Member State/country representatives of the European Union Committee of Experts on Rare Diseases. The reader, however, should bear in mind that the information provided is not exhaustive and is not an official position of either the European Commission, its Agencies or national health authorities.
The report is split into five parts available on the EURCED website

• Part I: Overview of rare disease activities in Europe
• Part II: Key developments in the field of rare diseases in 2011
• Part III: European Commission activities in the field of rare diseases
• Part IV: European Medicines Agency activities and other European activities in the field of rare diseases
• Part V: Activities in EU Member States and other European countries in the field of rare diseases

Each part contains the following description of the methodology, sources and validation process of the entire report, and concludes with a selected bibliography and list of persons having contributed to the report.