Dementia neglect angers Ita Buttrose, Australian of the year.

AUSTRALIAN of the Year Ita Buttrose has lashed out at the Government for not providing adequate investment in dementia research in the Budget.

Speaking at the Alzheimer’s Australia conference in Hobart yesterday Ms Buttrose said the lack of funds provided for research was “playing Russian roulette with people’s minds”.

Ms Buttrose said research priorities needed to be set to correspond to the fears and concerns of Australians.

“There are more than 320,000 people with dementia and 1.2 million who care for them in the community today and there will be many more in the next 30 years,” the Alzheimer’s Australia president said.

“People’s minds are sacrosanct. It’s the cost of inaction we have to consider. People’s minds should be a priority.”

Alzheimer’s Australia has been calling for increased investment of $200 million over the next five years.

However Ms Buttrose said the Budget did not provide good news for dementia research.

“The National Health and Medical Research Council needs to rethink the way it sets priorities in respect of chronic diseases,” she said.

“Dementia, which is the third leading cause of death, should rank much higher.”

Mr Buttrose said that with more than three million people expected to develop dementia between now and 2050, it ranked as one of the greatest challenges of this century.

Source News.com.au