A Comparative Analysis of Dementia Strategies of Fifteen European Countries in the Context of Glasgow Declaration and WHOs Global Action Plan

Dementia prevalence across the globe is in alarming proportion and it is even expected to rise in the future. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared dementia as a health priority, way back in 2009 and had recommended then, that at least high-income countries develop a dementia action plan, and other countries develop a national dementia strategy (NDS). Later in 2014, European Countries came together to sign the Glasgow Declaration and agreed to develop their respective NDSs. Yet, a few countries still do not have their NDS. Moreover, some countries do not have their NDS in English. This study attempts to compare the dementia strategies of 15 European countries, which has a comprehensive NDS in English language. The study further examines how well these NDSs comply with the Glasgow Declaration and the WHOs Global Action Plan guidance. We undertake cluster analysis to classify NDSs of these countries in terms of similarity in the content. We make use of word clouds to get an overall idea about the clusterwise contents of the NDSs, and then use algorithmic approach to content analysis for identifying the clusterwise key focus areas of these dementia strategies. We make a comparative analysis of these NDSs in the perspective of dementia prevalence, demographic profile, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and predominant healthcare financing model. We have found that irrespective of the prevalence, countrys demographic profile, GDP per capita or the predominant financing model, dementia strategies primarily focus on "care". We discuss the cost-effectiveness of prevention and person-centered care (PCC) and suggest according priorities to these in the future NDSs, as these are also the focus areas of Glasgow Declaration and the GAP.