More than 430,000 Australians are living with dementia and the number is growing as our population ages. Dementia is an umbrella term for a group of conditions of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common. Because dementia is the second leading cause of death in Australia there is considerable interest in managing its social and economic costs through understanding what causes it and how it can be prevented or its impacts reduced.
Standards Australia’s technical committee MB-027 Aging societies is participating in the international work of ISO TC 314 Aging societies which is developing standards that can provide principles for delivering the new products, services and solutions to meet the future needs of ageing societies in countries such as Australia. In 2023, this committee’s work led to a new Australian standard to provide a Framework for Dementia Inclusive Communities’ (AS ISO 25552:2023). This Standard identically adopts ISO 25552:2022 which provides a framework for dementia-inclusive communities, including principles and the considerations of inclusion, quality of life, built environments, special needs groups, and stakeholder engagement. It also provides guidance on how to systematically leverage, improve, and interconnect their existing assets and structures and transform efficiently into a dementia-inclusive community. The Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) supports this work by nominating a representative to the Australian committee MB-027 Aging societies as part of the CFA Standards Project. The CFA’s representative ensures the impact on Australian consumers is always a central part of the committee’s deliberations. Find out why standards are important to consumers, how you can Volunteer as a Representative of CFA on a Standards Australia committee; and how you can get FREE limited access to Australian standards (including the AS ISO 25552:23 Framework for Dementia Inclusive Societies mentioned above).
The World Health Organisation reports that dementia is a major cause of disability and dependence in older persons. Within Australia, there are several research institutions focused on providing insights to help us meet the challenge of dementia. One such is the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing CHeBA which is conducting research on how lifestyle factors impact on cognition in older adults: particularly the impact of
– Nutrition and brain health, and
Their Maintain your brain study identified that 45 per cent of the risk for dementia can be explained by modifiable lifestyle factors, and they include things like physical inactivity, a diet that’s not healthy, being less cognitively active, and depression and anxiety. The study listed 14 risk factors to watch for.