Dementia awareness campaign

Dementia awareness campaignThe national campaign for dementia awareness launches on 1 March 2010.

The campaign, run in partnership with The Alzheimer’s Society, will address poor public understanding of dementia. By doing this, and reducing the stigma associated with the condition, we can reduce the isolation and discrimination experienced by many people with dementia and their families.

The campaign forms part of measures to implement Objective 1 of the New Dementia Strategy: improved public and professional awareness and understanding of dementia.

Adverts will appear across television, radio, press and online, and will feature real people with dementia, not actors.

Research shows that poor understanding of dementia is widespread. While people feel sympathetic towards those with dementia, this lack of understanding – and associated fear surrounding the condition – means that in practice many avoid people with dementia and their families.

The target audience is 40-60 year olds: those most liable to be personally affected by dementia in the near future, because of the likely age of their parents and other older relatives.

Research shows that the public often perceive people with dementia as very elderly, lonely, isolated, and broken individuals, usually in the later stages of the condition, and looked after in care homes. It is these preconceptions that the new awareness campaign will address, by encouraging our audience to look again, and to see that with the right support, it is possible to live actively and well with dementia.

For more information on the dementia awareness campaign: