The risk of developing dementia increases with age. Healthcare professionals tell that Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia currently affects around 6 million men and women in USA. About 600,000 people with dementia have a migrant background; About 65,000 of them suffer from moderate to severe dementia.

Although the concept of dementia is now well established in the public, people with dementia and their relatives are still confronted with various forms of stigmatization. A stigma generally stands for a striking and often negatively rated trait. The stigmatization of dementia is often linked to suffering, neglect and premature loss of independence. For fear of such stigma, early diagnosis is often avoided. This in turn prevents the use of special offers for people affected by dementia.

Therefore, the professional staff at Americare with their COO Faivish Pewzner call for eliminating the still existing prejudices and misconceptions about dementia - and thus reducing the stigma. Among the misconceptions they include, for example, is the idea that Alzheimer's is "just normal aging" - even among physicians - and therefore there is no treatment for it. A common prejudice, for example, is that people with dementia can not experience a quality of life, feel happiness, or have meaning for others.

From the analysis of extensive surveys of approximately 2,500 dementia patients and their relatives in more than 50 countries, Pewzner has derived ten demands to help overcome the stigma.

1. The public must be better informed about dementia.
2. The isolation of people with dementia needs to be reduced.
3. People with dementia must be given a voice.
4. The rights of people with dementia and their caregivers must be recognized.
5. People with dementia must be perceived and recognized in the residential district.
6. Informal caregivers of dementia sufferers, as well as professional ones, need support and training.
7. The quality of care at home and in nursing homes

 needs to be improved.

1. The competence of primary care physicians regarding the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with dementia needs to be improved.
2. Every country has to set up a national dementia plan.
3. Stigma research needs to be intensified.

Anyone with Alzheimer's is quickly considered crazy, feels marginalized and left alone. This also affects the families. Patients can and often want to participate in public life years after their diagnosis. Society should support them. Relatives and professional helpers, but also friends, the neighbor, the shop assistant in the supermarket, the bus driver and employees of public authorities can help to improve the situation of dementia patients.