Yes, through FEBRAZ (Brazilian Federation of Alzheimer’s Associations) and focal/local initiatives in health and universities/schools (FEBRAZ, 2019). For example, the World Alzheimer’s Day, celebrated on the 21^st September.

References:

FEBRAZ. (2019). Instituto Não Me Esqueças. http://www.naomeesquecas.com.br/conteudo/

2018 – 2021

A three-year public education programme named “Dementia Friendly Community Campaign” has been launched by the Social Welfare Department of the Government in Hong Kong in September 2018. The aim of the campaign is to advocate public awareness and understanding of dementia and the building of a dementia-friendly community for individuals with dementia and their families (Social Welfare Department, 2019, August 28). The campaign comprises of different activities, including a set of announcements in public television and radio, a designated webpage (https://www.swd.gov.hk/dementiacampaign/en/index.html), an 8-epsiodes television docudrama and radio content on dementia, dementia-related movie screening and sharing, district programmes on public education, cognitive stimulation, carer support activities, as well as information sessions on Dementia Friends and workshops on Dementia Friends Ambassadors.

2018 – 2021

“Dementia-Friendly Community in Southern District” is a district-based campaign, funded by the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund of the Government and implemented by the NGO Christian Family Service Centre, in the Southern District, which is one of the 18 districts in Hong Kong. This campaign aims at establishing a collaborative platform as well as a dementia-friendly community care among various organisations, business, residents, and carers within the district. Its main activities include volunteers training, registration of recognised dementia-friendly business, and free dementia screening service and home safety assessment for older adults (Christian Family Service Centre, 2020).

References:

Christian Family Service Centre. (2020). Dementia-Friendly Community in Southern District. Retrieved from https://www.cfsc.org.hk/en/whatsNew/detail/1169

Social Welfare Department. (2019 August 28). Dementia Friendly Community Campaign. Retrieved from https://www.swd.gov.hk/dementiacampaign/en/index.html

Yes.

The public awareness campaigns were not evaluated to the extent that we could prove they were functioning.

In September 2019, STRiDE JA ran a public engagement campaign in recognition of World Alzheimer’s Month in keeping with the theme: ‘Let’s Talk About Dementia: End the Stigma, led jointly by ADI and PAHO.’ STRiDE JA researchers made television and radio appearances and gave interviews to help address myths and misconceptions around dementia and encourage help-seeking behaviours.

The team was also invited to deliver lectures at churches and company health days on the topic, including the Jamaica Constabulary Force. STRiDE JA also hosted several information desks at health fairs and conferences, including the Ministry of Health’s and Wellness’ Caribbean Wellness Day event which centred on Healthy Ageing.

This engagement work continued throughout 2019 and into 2020, where the STRiDE JA team, participated in several mental health events, as well as a local conference in November.

In addition to these activities, efforts to increase dementia awareness and stigma reduction are supplemented by a social media campaign on Twitter and through STRiDE Jamaica’s newsletters.

Campaigns on dementia awareness were held on the 26^th of September 2018 and 20^th September 2019, at the Kenyatta National referral Hospital. These campaigns, which were open to everyone including the general public are as a result of a partnership between the Ministry of Health, the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Organization of Kenya and Kenyatta National Hospital. There were government officials, NGOs, dementia caregivers, student volunteers, health care workers, and other members of the general public present during the campaign. At the event, various gaps in dementia care and management were identified through formal and informal presentations (Alzheimer’s & Dementia Organization Kenya (ADOK), 2018). The STRiDE project is already addressing some of those gaps by training lay providers to reduce stigma in communities (London School of Economics (LSE), 2018). Specifically, the STRiDE Kenya team and partners developed a dementia anti-stigma intervention that uses a train-the-trainer approach to deliver four psycho-educational group sessions to members of the general public to create awareness on dementia (Musyimi et al., 2022). The components include: (i) understanding dementia; (ii) addressing common myths and misconceptions; (iii) indirect contact (video-based) to amplify voices of persons with dementia and their carers; (iv) social inclusion for people with dementia and their carers using a case vignette. To test the feasibility of the intervention, 50 members of the general public received the intervention which was delivered by 10 community health workers in a rural County in Kenya.

References:

Alzheimer’s & Dementia Organization Kenya (ADOK). (2018). World Alzheimer’s Day 2018.

London School of Economics (LSE). (2018). Strengthening Responses to Dementia in Developing Countries (STRiDE). https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpec/research/projects/dementia/stride

Musyimi, C., Muyela, L., Mutunga, E., & Ndetei, D. (2022). Understanding dementia and its prevention in the African context. In World Dementia Council (Ed.), Global dialogue on LMICs: Reflections – The dementia landscape project, essays from international leaders in dementia (pp. 12–13). London, UK: World Dementia Council. https://worlddementiacouncil.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/DLP%20-%20Essays%20-%20LMICs.pdf

There have been no national level public awareness campaigns, but some National Institutes have issued information and awareness messages and campaigns via their internal publications and social media accounts.

In 2019, the release of the ‘World Alzheimer’s Report 2019: Attitudes to Dementia’ was timed to coincide with September being World Alzheimer’s awareness month. With the report focussed on attitudes to dementia, many organisations got behind the international campaign to promote education and awareness about dementia during the month of September. These included:

• Alzheimer’s NZ organised “Memory walks” throughout the country to allow the community to show their support and raise awareness of the dementia challenges.
• Dementia NZ launched the “Still Me” campaign, designed to change attitudes to dementia by reminding people to see the person and not the condition.
• Local and regional dementia organisations also ran their own initiatives during the month and other organisations also got on board such as the Northland rugby team donning purple socks for one of their games in September (Health Central, n.d.)

References:

Health Central. (n.d.). Kicking off World Alzheimer’s month in New Zealand. Available from: https://healthcentral.nz/kicking-off-world-alzheimers-month-in-new-zealand/.

Yes. Alzheimer’s South Africa hosts information talks (communities and radio), awareness campaigns and educational workshops annually. Other campaigns are targeted during September every year to coincide with World Alzheimer’s month’s awareness events, for example, an online art exhibition (see https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/online-art-exhibition-to-raise-alzheimers-awareness-17161349), media releases, and radio talks.