A two-day national conference on dementia – DEMCON 2025 – will be held at the GITAM Medical College in Visakhapatnam on December 5 and 6.
The theme of the conference is “Dementia in India and Andhra Pradesh – A Growing Public Health Emergency,” will focus on strengthening India’s dementia ecosystem through awareness, research, policy, and implementation-driven action.
Dementia has emerged as a public health emergency, with more than 88 lakh elderly Indians currently affected. According to the LASI-DAD 2023 study, Andhra Pradesh has a dementia prevalence of 7.7%, higher than the national average. By 2036, nearly 8 lakh people in the State are projected to be living with dementia. Dementia’s disturbing impact—rangeing from memory loss and behavioural changes to long-term dependency—deeply affecting individuals, families, and society at large. Due to widespread ignorance and stigma, almost 90% of people never receive a diagnosis.
There is a need for a trained dementia workforce, community-based support, and strengthening of district mental health systems.
DEMCON 2025 aims to accelerate these efforts and support the emerging State-level dementia action plan.
