Most campaigns are carried out during World Alzheimer’s Month by Alzheimer’s Associations at subnational levels. Up to 2018, the NGOs would each organise awareness, advocacy, and information provision events, including lighting buildings in purple, holding local seminars on dementia, scheduling public hearings with the local City Council members, offering speakers to give a presentation about dementia to local school teachers, having key-speakers to deliver presentations to the caregivers and the public in general, organizing cognitive activities for the impaired older people, setting up dementia movie sessions at the Older People’s Centres, providing technical and practical training to primary healthcare assistants. Some of these campaigns were named: Because I Care (Porque eu me importo); Purple September (Setembro lilás), Tribute Gallery Page (Galeria de tributos), Be the Wire that Supports our Memories (Seja o fio que sustenta nossas lembranças) and Every Three Seconds (A cada 3 segundos). The main delivery channels are through TV and radio coverage, and also through social media and advertisement. In 2019, the Ministry of Health was more involved with the campaign related to World Alzheimer’s Day and promoted a talk with specialists about dementia with live online transmission. In addition, in September 2019, the PAHO/WHO developed an anti-stigma campaign called “Let’s Talk About Dementia” in the Americas (Reyes, 2019).

References:

Reyes, O. (2019, September 1). PAHO/WHO | Anti-stigma campaign ‘Let’s Talk About Dementia’ marks beginning of World Alzheimer’s Month in the Americas. Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization. https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15390:anti-stigma-campaign-let-s-talk-about-dementia-marks-beginning-of-world-alzheimer-s-month-in-the-americas&Itemid=1926&lang=en

Other than the campaigns mentioned above, we conducted a search to identify all the local public awareness campaigns for dementia with the information available online. These campaigns are funded and implemented by a wide range of charitable institutions and NOGs. Details of these campaigns are summarised below (in chronological order):

2007 – ongoing

The “Love-your-brain” website (www.loveyourbrain.org.hk), funded by the charity ‘The Community Chest’ and developed by the NGO ‘The Hong Kong Society for the Aged’, was launched in 2007 as the first brain health website for the Chinese population worldwide. The website serves as a ‘brain fitness gym’ which offers different brain stimulating games which are tailored for the needs of Chinese older adults. In addition, it is also an online information hub to increase the understanding and awareness of the general public regarding the onset of dementia and ways to promote brain health.

2011 – 2012

“Active Prevention and Early Detection of Cognitive Impairment” project, funded by the charity Simon K. Y. Lee Foundation and implemented by academia and local NGOs, has launched a territory-wide education campaign from 2011 to 2012 to communicate to the public about dementia. It aimed to raise the community’s awareness on dementia and to promote the message of early detection and intervention through various channels, including talks, street exhibitions, carer training, counselling, and volunteer training, TV infotainment, newspaper columns, and radio programmes (Simon K. Y. Lee Foundation).

2012 – 2013

The “Brain Health Public Education Campaign”, funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and implemented by the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing (JCCPA) and CADENZA: A Jockey Club Initiative for Seniors, is a territory-wide campaign on public brain health promotion running from September 2012 to May 2013. The campaign promoted healthy lifestyle for dementia prevention and alleviating the impact of cognitive impairment. The educational messages were disseminated through talks, game design workshops, competition, and a one-day community carnival. In addition, educational leaflets and books were distributed to primary and secondary school student and a promotion video was broadcasted through public channels (The Hong Kong Jockey Club, 2012 August 28).

2013 – ongoing

The “Jockey Club Charles Kao Brain Health Mobile Services” is a brain health promotional vehicle funded by the charities ‘The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust’ and the ‘Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease’ and are operated by the NGO St. James’ Settlement since 2013. This vehicle has been providing territory-wide public education programmes to raise the awareness of the general public about dementia through exhibitions, talks, and promotional videos. Furthermore, it also provides preliminary assessments for older adults at risk, medical referral, and supports to persons with dementia patients and carers (St. James Settlements’, 2020).

2013 – ongoing

“Brain Health Education Programme”, launched by the Charles K. Kao Foundation in partnership with Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre and Fantasy Puppet Theatre and sponsored by Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund and Providence Foundation Limited, is an ongoing project consisting of multiple series of brain health education programmes since 2013. Its delivery channels include educational talks, game booths in primary and secondary schools and distribution of educational kits to teachers (1^st series; 2013 -2014), interactive dramas for performance tour in secondary schools (2^nd series; 2013 – 2017), puppet shows for primary schools (3^rd series; 2013 – 2020), and, more recently, ethnography drama workshop and showcase performance which encourage students to study the lives of person with dementia and then showcase their learnings in the format of drama to their fellow students (Charles K Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease).

2014 – 2018

The “Dementia Concern Campaign” and “Jockey Club Dementia Friendly Communities Campaign”, a 16-month and a 2-year territory-wide campaigns funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and implemented by the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing in 2014 and 2016 respectively, aimed at promoting positive attitude and acceptance towards individuals with dementia among the public, particularly amongst frontline staffs. Through talks, interactive workshops, tailor-made education, and training programmes, the campaign encouraged frontline staffs (such as security guards, drivers, and bank tellers) in different fields who would come across the elderly in their work to co-create a dementia-friendly community by providing appropriate support and assistance to persons with dementia in their workplaces and neighbourhood (Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing, 2018; The Hong Kong Jockey Club, 2014).

2015 – 2018

“Project Sunrise” is a district-based campaign in Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong, which are two of the 18 districts of Hong Kong, funded by the charitable foundation Lee Hysan Foundation from 2015 to 2018. Implemented by the Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association and the Christian Family Service Centre, the project emphasized on education and early detection across different target audiences, including the general public, employees among different service industries, and general practitioners via public talks, staff trainings and workshops, educational cue cards to raise awareness and increase early detection of dementia symptoms in the community.

References:

Charles K Kao Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease. Our Projects. Retrieved from https://www.charleskaofoundation.org/service/project

Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing. (2018 ). Dementia Friendly Communities.

Simon K. Y. Lee Foundation. Active Prevention & Early Detection of Cognitive Impairment (“APEC”).

St. James Settlements’. (2020). Jockey Club Charles Kao Brain Health Mobile Services. Retrieved from https://dementia.sjs.org.hk/sjs/tc/car.php?m=10&id=133

The Hong Kong Jockey Club. (2012 August 28). Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing advocates brain-healthy lifestyle.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club. (2014). Jockey Club supports “Dementia Concern” campaign [Press release].

The Alzheimer’s and Related Disorder Society of India (ARDSI) has a national office and 22 chapters across the country. ARDSI has conducted numerous dementia public awareness sessions in 2018. They also have conducted over 30 awareness programs targeted towards various sectors of the community.

ARDSI organises several programmes to raise dementia awareness, although these programmes have been primarily concentrated in urban areas. The most noticeable aspects of these programmes are the involvement of various community groups, including students, young people, people with dementia, caregivers, carers, doctors, non-governmental organizations and others who have an active role to play in addressing dementia. The organisation set up twenty awareness campaigns during World Alzheimer’s month. These campaigns raised awareness through multiple mediums such as FM radio, a regional news channel and interviews with various other media outlets. The ARDSI chapters have also introduced campaigns to bring awareness through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp support groups (ARDSI, 2020).

Some of the mediums used for raising awareness of dementia by the various chapters are as follows:

• The Kolkata chapter reached out to the general population by targeting different sectors each week. These sectors included: health, corporate, transportation, state/local administration, and social support services.
• The Hyderabad Chapter took part in the well-publicized Purple Run and Dementia Ride as part of dementia friendly community project
• The Mumbai Chapter opened the first Dementia Friendly Cafe in India.
• ARDSI Mumbai Chapter & Smriti Vishvam: Universe of Memory is the first dementia day care in India to receive the International Quality Certificate of Registration ISO 9001:2015
• The Delhi and Guwahati chapters raised awareness through radio and television programmes, memory walks, memory screening camps seminars and cultural programmes.
• DemClinic launched by Nightingales Medical Trust (NMT) in association with ARDSI Bangalore, is the first of its kind offering a telemedicine expert-led cognitive assessment platform for the elderly to increase access to dementia screening, diagnosis, and care (NMT, n.d.).
• DemLink App also by NMT aims to educate families of loved ones with dementia and provides access to care and support via a mobile app (NMT, n.d.)
• ARDSI Hyderabad offers a WhatsApp group called ZBCHA which connects dementia
  caregivers and professionals.
• ARDSI Hyderabad conducted a hybrid conference with the theme “Dementia Care in Family and Community—Building Resilience and Hope” in November 2021.

References:

Alzherimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (2020). World Alzheimer’s Month. Retrieved from https://ardsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Ardsi-WAM-2020.pdf

NIGHTINGALES MEDICAL TRUST (n.d.). DemClinic and DemLink. Available from: https://nightingaleseldercare.com/demclinic.html

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

In September 2018, in recognition of World Alzheimer’s Month (WAM), Alzheimer’s Jamaica (AlzJA), led by members of the STRiDE JA team, embarked on a national campaign of public awareness around dementia via traditional media, including television, radio and newspaper appearances, as well as via public outreach events. These included a Dementia Symposium in St. Mary (which is a parish outside of Kingston). Over 140 persons were in attendance, including the Senior Medical Officer for the region.

On World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21^st, 2019), AlzJA also hosted a Dementia Information Desk, at the University of the West Indies Mona campus to engage younger people, university students in this case, in dementia education. These and other events were also supplemented by a social media campaign on Twitter throughout the month of September featuring anti-stigma and dementia awareness posts. As a result of this campaign, during the WAM, AlzJA gained over 200 new followers.

• The Alzheimer’s and Dementia Organization of Kenya (ADOK) hosted an awareness raising walk at Karura Forest on the 9^th of June 2018. The campaign was called Walk the mind (AND BODY). The main objective was to educate the public on dementia. Other aims were to support caregivers for persons with dementia and to promote social inclusion of those living with any form of dementia. The walk was organized in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, and was also used as a channel to raise funds for ADOK (Capital Digital Media, 2018).
• Demystifying dementia awareness campaign presented by the CEO and founder of the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Organization Kenya (ADOK) was hosted in September 2018. The show targeted all Kenyans and was aired live through five local media stations – 4 English speaking and one in Kikuyu language (local dialect ) (Demystifying dementia, 2018).

References:

Capital Digital Media. (2018). Alzheimer’s and Dementia Walk at Karura forest Saturday. Capital Group Limited. Nairobi, Kenya. https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2018/06/alzheimers-dementia-walk-karura-forest-saturday/

Demystifying dementia. (2018). Kenya: NTV. https://alzkenya.org/blog/media/

In 2016, the Mayor (Jefe de Gobierno) Miguel Angel Mancera launched a campaign against Alzheimer’s called “My memory CDMX” in collaboration with local Alzheimer’s Associations. As with programs for people with dementia and their carers, most initiatives of public awareness have come from the civil society, mainly, Alzheimer’s and other dementias associations. Since the year 2000, FEDMA and other associations have organised a National Alzheimer’s Congress including both academic sessions and sessions for the general public. The latter ones include information sessions, group activities, training for carers, among other activities.

In more recent years, every September as part of the World’s Alzheimer’s month, different activities have been generated. For example, invitations to different TV and radio programmes (public media) of experts and civil society organizations to talk about some topic related to dementia, whereas diagnosis, treatment options, symptoms to be aware of, etc. Other activities include Dementia Walks organised by FEDMA and the INGER since 2014.

A movement that has quickly progressed is the Dementia Friends Initiative. Since January 2019, the Mexican Alzheimer’s Association, FEDMA, in collaboration with the National Institute of Geriatrics, INGER and the University of Guadalajara in the State of Jalisco, have been developing the initiative’s workshops aiming at changing people’s perceptions of dementia. Currently, the movement is present in 11 (out of 32) States and has trained 5,000 dementia friends.

2016 – “Let’s get our heads around dementia” was a national Alzheimer’s NZ campaign focusing on the personal stories of six well known Kiwi personalities who have been affected by dementia. These individuals shared personal experiences of their family members who have been diagnosed with the condition, with stories aired on TV and shared online through our website and YouTube channel.

2014 – 2016 – Funded by the Ministry of Health, a national 3 phase, 3 year “About Dementia” campaign was launched by Alzheimer’s NZ to improve the acceptance of dementia and to reduce the stigma associated with it, as well as to facilitate better access to diagnosis and support services. Focusing on three key messages of hope, respect and action, an advertising campaign was launched across multiple platforms including traditional TV, print and radio advertising, as well as promotion on social media sites such as Facebook and other online outlets including online banners and various websites.

2012 – ‘We can Help’ campaign to build public awareness and understanding of dementia, and to encourage people to see their doctor so they can get the help they need.

According to the information available in the desk review, Alzheimer’s South Africa, and Dementia-SA (dementia-specific NGOs in South Africa) do not embark on a national-scale public awareness campaign. However, they do engage in occasional radio talks, and contribute to press-releases that raises awareness about dementia.