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The Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Helen McEntee, TD, today welcomed the launch of the National Dementia Awareness Campaign – Understand Together.

The Minister said, “Each year 4,000 people in Ireland develop a dementia – that’s 11 people every day. Currently, there are approximately 55,000 people living with dementia in the Republic of Ireland. Dementia prevalence is set to increase in line with our ageing population, underscoring the need for us as a nation to acknowledge and understand the condition and its impact on individuals and society as a whole.”

The National Dementia Awareness Campaign - Understand Together is a three year public information campaign being developed by the HSE, in collaboration with partners including the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and Genio, with support from the Atlantic Philanthropies. The campaign is one of the priorities of the National Dementia Strategy Implementation Programme and the Health and Wellbeing Division has responsibility for co-ordinating its development.

The purpose of the campaign is to build awareness and understanding around dementia. It aims to bring dementia out of the shadows and encourage people to talk about their experiences of the condition. It will highlight the people behind the statistics and show that there are things that we can do together to help build inclusive and supportive communities for people with dementia, their carers, families and friends.