With populations ageing, 78 million people worldwide could live with dementia, a neurological disorder that robs them of their memory, by the end of 2030 the UN health agency has said. The progressive condition can be caused by stroke, brain injury or Alzheimer's disease. More than 55 million people now live with dementia worldwide, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. So, it is a global public health concern and not just in high-income countries. The disease affects memory, orientation, learning capacity, language, judgement, and the ability to perform everyday tasks. Although the disease, one of the greatest generational health challenges, is the seventh leading cause of mortality in the world, dementia research makes up less than 1.5 percent of all health research output, World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said. "We are falling behind in implementing the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-25," she said, adding that addressing dementia comprehensively requires "research and innovation to be an integral part of the response." The WHO Tuesday launched the first research blueprint for tackling the disease as strategies are needed to better understand, prevent, and treat the underlying diseases that cause it and to provide care and support to people who suffer from it, as well as those who care for them. The blueprint for dementia research, the first WHO initiative of its kind for non-communicable diseases, is designed to guide policymakers, funders, and the research community on dementia research, making it more efficient, equitable, and impactful. "We can achieve progress in dementia research by strengthening and monitoring the drivers of research highlighted in the blueprint so that they become the norm for good research practice," Ren Minghui, WHO's assistant director-general UHC/communicable and noncommunicable diseases, said. Read:Bangladesh participates in WHO’s Health for All Film Festival 2021 Developing dementia is not inevitable and some risk factors can be reduced, by controlling hypertension, diabetes, diet, depression, and the use of alcohol and tobacco, the WHO said. With the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life and support provided to those living with dementia, those who provide care for them, and their families, the UN health agency said it would work with all to ensure that the actions outlined in the blueprint are implemented, milestones are met, and strategic goals are realised.  

​​​​​​​Memory is a very important element to move forward in human life. People may lose memory for a variety of reasons. Sometimes memory loss can occur for a short time and sometimes it can be long term. So, knowing the reasons for memory loss will help prevent it. Further, the proper knowledge of symptoms will help anyone to seek help before the problem becomes worse. What is memory loss? Usually, memory loss is defined as unusual forgetfulness. When a person cannot remember new events and cannot recall one or more past memories, a memory loss may occur. It can stay for a short time and then resolve by itself. Or, it can happen for a long time and may not go away and depending on the reason it may get worse overtime. In severe cases, this kind of memory impairment may hamper the daily living activity  Read:Covid-19 Brain Fog: How to improve memory power and brain health after Covid Type of memory loss Scientists have found three types of memory loss: short term memory loss, long term memory loss and mild Cognitive Impairment. All of these memory loss problems have their own symptoms and causes. Short term memory loss Usually, the short-term memory stores the information for 30 seconds and with the short term memory loss problem people may forget the things that have happened recently. Although it is a normal event for the aging person, it can also indicate something more serious.  Symptoms of short-term memory loss There are some common problems that might indicate that someone is facing short term memory loss. People with this problem tend to forget recent events. For example, forgetting something that has been seen or read recently and forgetting recent events. Sometimes people also tend to forget that he/she already asked a question.  Read: Covid-19 Antibody Test: What You Need to Know Long term memory loss Human brain’s long-term memory stores the information over time. Further, it has unlimited storage of events, facts, etc.  However, this unlimited memory can weaken with age, which is normal. With age the brain’s usual processing speed may get slow and sometimes it can be challenging for multitasking. Although the processing speed is reduced, memory, knowledge and skill stay steady. The usual age-related problems include facing trouble finding the right word, losing things often, and occasionally forgetting appointments, names, but remembering them later. These symptoms are totally fine, but losing skills can be a signal of serious problems. Symptoms of long-term memory loss There are few top reasons that indicate a person is facing long-term memory loss. If anyone faces new problems with speaking and writing, such as struggling with vocabulary, this might be a symptom of long-term memory loss. Further, changes in mood or behavior, confused about time or place and facing difficulties completing familiar daily tasks. All these are the most common symptoms of long term memory loss. Read:The link between the COVID-19 vaccine and pregnancy Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) Some older people may face problems with memory that are noticeable, but are not serious to affect daily function. This kind of memory loss problem is called mild cognitive impairment. However, mild cognitive impairment is not that severe like the memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s or dementia disease. As a result, people with mild cognitive impairment don’t face personality change problems that are usually faced by the Alzheimer patient.

We all have a tendency to forget, get confused, or sometimes focus on the wrong things. This can be due to overloading of information, stress, distraction and other reasons. These occurrences are normal, and we get over them naturally or after taking some rest. But things get complicated when you consciously forget everything and your brain fail to create a new memory. However, this might seem unreal to you, but this can happen to anyone due to medical reasons such as damage to the central nervous system. You will be surprised to know that we have very few cases in the real world, while we have numerous characters in books and movies. "Notable examples include Lucy Whitmore in 50 First Dates, Dory in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, Jonathan Archer in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, Sanjay in Ghajini and more." This kind of memory loss is defined as Amnesia. However, the real-life case of Clive Wearing's memory loss is different. Usually, there are two types of memory loss diseases, anterograde Amnesia and retrograde Amnesia. While the most fictional characters we have mentioned here suffer from either anterograde or retrograde, Clive Wearing suffered from both, and it is the "most devastating case of amnesia ever recorded." 83-year-old British musician Clive has a memory of 7 to 30 seconds only. Read Dengue vs. COVID-19: Symptoms, when & where to test, ways of prevention Who is Clive Wearing? Born in 1938, Clive Wearing was a British musicologist, keyboardist, conductor, and tenor. He was successful in his career and was known for editing the Orlando de Lassus. Further, he sang at Westminster Cathedral for many years as a tenor lay clerk. Besides, he was also a chorus master and worked with the London Sinfonietta Chorus as well as with Covent Garden. Apart from these, Wearing founded the Europa Singers of London in 1968 and performed in numerous places such as the London Opera Centre, Monteverdi Vespers, Russian Cathedral, etc. In 1981 he worked for BBC and made special content for BBC Radio 3 on the "day of the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer." Despite his eventful career, Clive Wearing cannot remember much of it due to his rare medical condition. Read: Harmful Effects of Mobile Phones on Children’s Health What Happened to Clive Wearing? In 1985 when he was 45 years old, Wearing contracted "herpesviral encephalitis which is a herpes simplex virus." This simple virus attacked his central nervous system. After that, he could not store new memories. Besides, he has also been unable to put together his past memories. He is also unable to control emotions and has an unstable mood. Later it was found that Wearing has been having this problem due to total Amnesia. As his hippocampus was damaged, he is totally unable to form new memories; because of that, Clive's memory lasts between 7 and 30 seconds. Hippocampus is an area in our brain that needs to transfer memories from short-term to long-term memory. Every day he wakes up every 20 seconds, which means his consciousness restarts every 20 seconds. During this time, he keeps questioning why he has not met a doctor. Wearing continuously believes that he just wakes up from the comatose stage. Further, if he engages in a discussion, Wearing cannot stay in the flow for more than 30 seconds. Sometimes he forgets the context in 10 seconds and starts again. He cannot speak longer than a few sentences. But Clive remembers a few memories of his life before 1985, such as his love for the second wife and his children from the first marriage. Every time he meets with these people, he greets them joyously, and cannot remember their names. He has featured in many documentaries, and some researchers also conducted research about his condition. Moreover, many fictional movies have been made on Amnesia that we have mentioned earlier. But if you want to visualize the memory loss, you can watch a Bangla drama "Chirokal Aaj" to better understand the amnesia condition. Chirokal Aaj has recently become a center of attraction in Bangladesh. It was based on Clive Wearing's attack on anterograde Amnesia and retrograde Amnesia.

One in every 12 individuals 60 years or older in Bangladesh have dementia (prevalence 8%), says a national survey on Wednesday. The burden is higher in Rajshahi (15%) and Rangpur (12%) than other divisions, and did not vary between urban and rural areas (8%). The burden of dementia among females was found higher than males across all ages and divisions. The study estimates that the total number of dementia cases in Bangladesh in 2020 could be about 1.1 million, including 0.28 million males and 0.83 million females. The study projects that the number could increase to 1.37 million in 2025 and could be doubled in 2041 (2.4 million), which may increase even further if not intervened effectively. On Wednesday, icddr,b in collaboration with the Non-Communicable Disease Control Programme of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the National Institute of Neuroscience & Hospital (NINS), organised a virtual webinar titled “The burden of dementia among older people in Bangladesh: Findings of a National Survey” to disseminate the recently concluded survey findings. Professor Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Director General, DGHS, graced the occasion as the chief guest. Dr Tahmeed Ahmed, Executive Director at icddr,b, and Prof. Quazi Deen Mohammad, Director, NINS were special guests, while Professor Dr Robed Amin, Line Director, NCDC Programme, DGHS chaired the event. Dementia is a syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities. Also read: Drug can curb dementia's delusions, researchers find According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 50 million people have dementia globally, and 60 per cent of them are from low-and middle-income countries. It is to be noted that there is very little information on dementia among the South Asian population, including Bangladesh. Unavailability of data has challenged the policymakers to consider and develop strategies and programmes to provide quality care to its senior citizens who suffer the most. The majority of the NCD prevention and control programmes target productive age groups with little emphasis on mental health.