KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health, represented by the Department of Health Services for the Elderly, held a two-day awareness workshop on Saturday on the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Day. Head of the Department of Health Services for the Elderly, Dr Ibrahim Al-Hammadi, said in a speech during the workshop that global care centers allocate September of each year to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease, which is considered one of the types of dementia, with the aim of shedding light on ways to alleviate its symptoms and methods of prevention and care.

Participants attend the Alzheimer's disease awareness workshop. – KUNA photos

Dr Al-Hammadi pointed to the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in the world today in light of the increasing number of elderly people and the longevity of people. He explained that the Department of Health Services for the Elderly at the Ministry of Health, which was launched in 2014, seeks to create an integrated system to deal with people with dementia and their caregivers, indicating that the department is working to train doctors and healthcare providers who constituted the majority of the workshop attendees.

The workshop began with a speech by the Head of the Geriatric Diseases Unit at the Ministry of Health, Dr Ali Al-Qattan, who discussed the latest medical and scientific developments on Alzheimer’s disease, from initial symptoms and the different types of medications, in addition to models for dealing with patients on a daily basis. Dr. Al-Qattan said that vascular dementia is the most widespread in Kuwait due to the prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and blood pressure in general. The workshop was attended by many departments and administrations of the Ministry of Health. — KUNA