The Ministry of Health and Welfare yesterday said it is planning to set up 72 community dementia care centers in accordance with its policy document Taiwan Dementia Policy: A Framework for Prevention and Care 2.0.
The Taiwan Alzheimer Disease Association yesterday on the first day of World Alzheimer’s Month held its annual academic conference in Taipei, with Dementia Alliance International chairperson Kate Swaffer delivering a keynote speach.
According to alliance data, about 9.9 million people worldwide are diagnosed with dementia each year.
A study commissioned by the ministry between 2011 and 2013 said that more than 260,000 people in Taiwan have dementia.
The National Development Council has predicted that the number will continue to increase, doubling to about 550,000 people by 2036.
“As one of the estimated 50 billion people in the world living with dementia, my mission has become to ensure people with dementia are not told to go home and prepare to die, but are supported to live positively,” said Swaffer, who was diagnosed with the condition at age 49.
“It is imperative that we focus on the human rights of people with dementia and their families,” she said, adding that governments, healthcare practitioners and communities should not just provide care for people with dementia, but also help increase their quality of life and reduce stigma, shame and discrimination.
Citing her own experience of having her driver’s license revoked, and healthcare practitioners advising her to quit her job and prepare for long-term care at a specialized care center, Swaffer said that those who advised her might have had good intentions, but they showed a common bias, assuming that people with dementia cannot make decisions on their own.
Taiwan has made efforts to protect the rights of people with dementia and the ministry launched its dementia policy in December last year, but dementia policies must be made in consideration of patients’ abilities and rights, helping them live positively and contribute to the society, she said.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said the Taiwan Dementia Policy 2.0 would reference the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to establish proper action plans.
The ministry is also planning to establish 72 dementia care centers so that people in early stages of dementia can receive care and counseling services in their communities, he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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