SUPPORT OUR JOURNALISM: Please consider donating to keep our website running and free for all - thank you!

JapanSpainSweden

Japanese, Spanish and Swedish royals unite for dementia forum

At the third annual Dementia X Forum at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, Princess Sofia and Queen Silvia of Sweden welcomed Queen Sofía of Spain and Princess Takamado of Japan to their country for the event.

Dementia X was hosted by BBC World News journalist and presenter Nisha Pillai, and she welcomed everyone to the forum before introducing the Minister of Children, Senior Citizens and Gender Equality of Sweden, Lena Hallengren; the general director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom; and the general director of the “Forum for Elderly Care and Swedish Care International”, Karin Lind-Mörnesten.

© Casa de SM el Rey

Hallengren and the Director of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Devora Kestel presented the global guidelines on dementia from WHO. Other speakers included the First Lady of the Republic of Chile, Cecilia Morel; a researcher of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Anders Wino; and general director of the Alzheimer Association, Harry Johns. Together, they presented ‘Financing in the area of ​​dementia – is it feasible?’

Additionally, Queen Sofía of Spain was presented the credentials of the Alzheimer’s Association’s ambassador during a break in the conference.

© Casa de SM el Rey

After several other presentations, Queen Silvia of Sweden handed out the research grants of the Alzheimer’s Foundations of Sweden.

© Casa de SM el Rey

Casa Real explained the lack of research and money toward fighting this disease, “The global state of dementia research is far behind. Between the year 2000 and 2015, deaths in the USA. UU Heart diseases decreased by 11%, while deaths from Alzheimer’s increased by 123%. In 2015, the research was not being funded at a level close to that of heart disease. And the care options for those affected are also very backward: in 2017, available statistics show that family and unpaid caregivers provided 18.4 billion hours of care, valued at 232 billion dollars. Like a baseball stadium: for every 10 pounds spent caring for people with the condition; 8 pennies are spent on researching new treatments in the United Kingdom.”

Sweden’s Queen first helped organise the first Dementia X forum in May 2015.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden later hosted a luncheon for the two queens and two princesses at her home at Haga Palace.

About author

Brittani is from Tennessee, USA. She is a political scientist and historian after graduating with a degree in the topics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in December 2014. She also holds a master's degree from Northeastern University. She enjoys reading and researching all things regarding the royals of the world. She's been researching, reading, and writing on royalty for over a decade. She became Europe Editor in October 2016, and then Deputy Editor in January 2019, and has been featured on several podcasts, radio shows, news broadcasts and websites including Global News Canada, ABC News Australia, WION India and BBC World News.