Alzheimer Indonesia (ALZI)’s campaigns played a big role in raising the government’s concern on dementia. The Kick-starting Alzheimer’s Awareness project started in 2014 and aimed to promote Alzheimer awareness through an integrated campaign: bombarding the public with key messages through social and conventional media, learning activities with experts and experienced caregivers, and media engagement. In less than two years the awareness-raising efforts brought a significant increase in understanding and recognition of Alzheimer’s disease among the general public, the government, the private sector, and the media (Grand Challenges Canada, 2015).

For the past six years, ALZI has worked with various stakeholders to create a public awareness campaign called “Jangan Maklum Dengan Pikun” (Do Not Underestimate Memory Loss), which aims to raise awareness of dementia (Virgianti, 2014). The “Jangan Maklum Dengan Pikun” public awareness campaign has been disseminated through social media platforms, radio, TV, prints (Flyer, Poster, Infographic). The main target audience is the general public.

ALZI receive funding from donors and partner institutions. For example, a collaboration with the DKI Jakarta provincial government allows the organisation to spread the message through LED billboards/videotron across 30 spots in Jakarta as well as through lighting up the National Monument in purple during September, the World Alzheimer month (Sukarno, 2015). It also collaborates with public relations/communications firm (Maverick, 2017) and public awareness and media consultancy NGO (OnTrackMedia, 2014). The organisation funds the campaign from donations and grants, such as Grand Challenges Canada (Grand Challenges Canada, 2015) and the Twinning Project supported by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sports which was initiated with the help of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) (Alzheimer Indonesia, 2018).

The campaign aims to raise awareness of dementia and reduce stigma and discrimination towards people with dementia. In March 2016, the Indonesian Ministry of Health launched the National Action Plan on Dementia and Senior Citizens, and Alzheimer’s Indonesia is one of the stakeholders involved in the drafting of the document (Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia, 2015b), signalling the success of the organisation’s campaign and advocacy efforts.

References:

Alzheimer Indonesia. (2018). Twinning Program Report. Available at: https://alzined.org/twinning-program/

Grand Challenges Canada. (2015). Raising Awareness to Improve the Lives of People with Alzheimer’s Disease. https://www.grandchallenges.ca/2015/kickstarting-alzheimer-awareness/

Maverick. (2017). The race against dementia with Alzheimer’s Indonesia. Maverick.

Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia. (2015b). National Strategy: Management of Alzheimer and Other Dementia Diseases: Towards Healthy and Productive Older Persons. Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia.

OnTrackMedia. (2014). 10 Tanda Demensia Alzheimer. https://youtu.be/DymN8tviXEQ

Sukarno, P. A. (2015). Monas Berwarna Ungu Selama Bulan September. Bisnis.Com. https://jakarta.bisnis.com/read/20150902/77/468162/monas-berwarna-ungu-selama-bulan-september

Virgianti, K. (2014). Alzi Peringati Hari Alzheimer Sedunia. Satu Harapan. http://www.satuharapan.com/read-detail/read/alzi-peringati-hari-alzheimer-sedunia