FIRST DEMENTIA CONFERENCE KREMS

Timely Detection of Dementia

Coordinated Efforts in Europe Between East and West

5.-7. November 2019

©

Walter Skokanitsch

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We are proud to invite you to the First Krems Dementia Conference from 5th-7th of November 2019 on the beautiful Danube University Campus in Krems/ Austria.    In this fascinating environment we want to start an initiative together with persons with dementia, representatives of Alzheimer Asscociations, researchers and policy makers to work on bringing diagnosis services to persons with dementia and their families.  Krems is situated in the magical area of the “Wachau”, perfectly on the rim between East and West and the Danube University offers a role for coordinating and facilitate common efforts in optimizing diagnostic services between these two European regions. Krems is situated within pictoresque wine hills-some were already used by ancient Romans to grow excellent wine and fruits- its worth a journey!

A key issue in many countries is still the low level of diagnosis rates. Austria has a detection rate of 20-30% and in many Eastern European countries the number might be even lower. Or worse: countries cannot estimate their detection rate as the OECD has pointed out. In countries where the numbers are low, this has to do with a lack of public awareness and little input to the discussion from the scientific community. With this conference we want to  improve the situation if we are able to develop a research agenda for the participating countries and discuss solutions and improvement of the health systems.