General awareness campaigns and workshops have been conducted across the country. After initial discussions in 2004, in 2011 the ARDSI chapter in Cochin initiated a campaign to make the city of Cochin (in the state of Kerala) dementia friendly. This was the first time in India, that a dementia friendly campaign was initiated. Training programmes consisting of skill training for school children, student practitioners and home care staff were conducted. These training programmes started in Cochin, but were then extended to Trivandrum, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and other cities.

As part of this dementia friendly initiative, ARDSI conducted five workshops in different cities across the country: Trivandrum, Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Cochin. Two hundred participants, including family carers, health and social care professionals and the general public attended these sessions. The workshops encouraged participants to identify the challenges associated with establishing dementia friendly communities. The themes which emerged in these sessions were: government involvement and partnerships, creating awareness, training of health care professionals, a multidisciplinary care approach, a symbol for the dementia friendly community concept, service development and support networks. Following on from these workshops, ARDSI published a document recommending national criteria for dementia friendly communities in India (ARDSI, 2010).

References:

Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India. (2010). THE DEMENTIA INDIA REPORT 2010: Prevalence, impact, cost and services for dementia. New Dehli. Available from: https://www.mhinnovation.net/sites/default/files/downloads/innovation/reports/Dementia-India-Report.pdf