By Stanley Onyekwere
The need to ensure access to sustainable care by persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related Dementia (AD) took centre stage when he National Orientation Agency (NOA) in partnership with Naidcare, a professional care services agency marked the 2025 Alzheimer”s Day in Abuja.
To mark the Day, the NOA, Naidcare and other partners offered free medical screening and awareness to hundreds of Abuja residents.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Director of Health and Social Care at NOA, Simon Idoku , noted that a lot of old people who have the symptoms especially memory loss are not even aware of the disease, hence the need to draw awareness of Nigerians to the medical condition that affects mostly the elderly people from age of 60 and above.
He added that when people see some of the signs of the disease in the elderly, they think it’s a sign of either karma or witchcraft or the person is a victim of a spiritual attack.
“So, we want people to be aware so that when they see elderly people around them suffering from this condition, they can show support, they can give care, show empathy, understanding and love.
“We want to build a society where people have a duty of caring for one another as enshrined in our national value charter, So that’s what we are here to do today. And this programme is going on across the 36 states of the Federation and in all the 774 local government areas of the country”, he stated.
Also speaking, the team lead, medical team for Nadcare, Dr. Isaac Akerele, said the theme for this year: End the stigma, underscores the essence of collaborating with all stakeholders to create awareness about the disease.
Akerele, a consultant family physician, explained that the condition is just an ageing process leading to either memory loss, eye-impaired or hearing disorder.
According to him, “This disease is naturally occurring as a result of ageing, stigmatising those who are affected should be discouraged.
“We all know a lot of things when elderly seem not to be acting well, especially when forgetfulness sets in and they begin not to be able to take care of themselves, they are abandoned.
“So, we are campaigning today to say the abandonment of these people should not be encouraged.”
On his part, the Senior Executive/ HOP of Naidcare, Ife James Itodo, called on community leaders to take up the responsibility of intensifying Alzheimer’s awareness amongst families and building support systems that can assist those living with dementia in this part of the world.
He described the event as impressive given that many residents turned out in their numbers to benefit from the programme especially the free assorted medical checks and other services offered.
