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Without a national registry, Panama seeks to understand the reality of dementia
🇵🇦 Panama /Health & Science

Without a national registry, Panama seeks to understand the reality of dementia

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Panama has no statistical registry of people with dementia, limiting efforts to measure the condition’s prevalence nationwide.
  • The Health Ministry launched a National Plan for Addressing Dementia, with goals covering prevention, diagnosis, treatment and data collection.
  • Officials and family advocates warned that dementia can affect younger people as well as older adults and stressed the need to support caregivers and families.

For Panama, one of the first challenges in addressing dementia is determining how many people live with it. The country has no statistical registry for the condition, leaving health authorities without a clear measure of its prevalence.

The Health Ministry has responded by launching a National Plan for Addressing Dementia. The plan seeks to align national strategies with international commitments and sets objectives for prevention, diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Roberto González de La Lastra, head of mental health at the ministry, said the Caja de Seguro Social and private providers need to begin collecting data.

Dementia is not simply a consequence of aging. It refers to a group of symptoms that affect memory and thinking, including frequent forgetfulness that disrupts daily life, disorientation in familiar places, major changes in personality or behavior, and difficulty making decisions. González de La Lastra said people should seek help when sudden changes in conduct or emotions begin to appear.

Most of the time, dementias occur in older adults, but they are not the exception; dementia also occurs in younger people.

— Roberto González de La LastraThe Health Ministry’s mental health chief said dementia can also affect younger people.

“Most of the time, dementias occur in older adults, but they are not the exception; dementia also occurs in younger people,” González de La Lastra said. He also cited a global projection of about 150 million people living with the disease by 2050.

Ingrid Wellington, president of Afapadea, an association supporting families of patients with dementia and other conditions, said a diagnosis should not define the person. “A diagnosis is only about a condition as such, a damage or impairment affecting the brain, but the person is still a person,” she said. Wellington added that implementation will be the most important part of turning the plan into practical support for families. Panama expects the number of people over 60 with dementia to rise as the population ages.

A diagnosis is only about a condition as such, a damage or impairment affecting the brain, but the person is still a person.

— Ingrid WellingtonThe Afapadea president emphasized that a dementia diagnosis should not define an individual.
About this summary

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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