Following successive workshops in Monaco (2011), Marrakech (April 2013), Malta (October 2013), Lisbon (November 2015), Thessaloniki (May 2015), and Ljubljana (September 2015), the MAA members wished to meet once again in Barcelona, on the occasion of the 10th Pittsburgh-Barcelona Conference, from May 25 to 28, 2016.
This was an opportunity for members to present current developments and policy advances related to the care of people with Alzheimer’s disease. and their caregivers in their respective countries. In this regard, we would like to congratulate the Alzheimer Slovenia association for adopting the first national strategy on Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders on May 25, 2016. Another significant development was the initiation of discussions in Tunisia regarding the implementation of a national Alzheimer’s plan, which will be submitted to parliament for approval this September.
This workshop was also marked by the presence of Delphine Borione, Deputy Secretary General for Civil and Social Affairs of the Union for the Mediterranean, who confirmed her support for our initiative, and Bruno Vellas, Head of the Toulouse Gerontology Center and Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Gerontology at Toulouse University Hospitals, who presented the results of the MAPT (The Multidomain Alzheimer Preventive Trial) study on the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.
During this workshop, MAA members worked in two separate committees: the Scientific Committee and the Associations Committee. The Scientific Committee identified potential research protocols from the themes selected in Slovenia last year that could be rapidly implemented in the Mediterranean region. The Associations Committee, for its part, worked on implementing two concrete projects focused on training and raising public awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.