Preface

The expected increase in the number of people suffering from dementia is intertwined with the ageing Nordic population. More and more older adults will live with dementia diseases impacting their everyday lives. The Nordic societies are trying to adjust to this challenge and to the rising needs of good dementia care. In parallel, mounting evidence on the efficacy of dementia prevention encourages the Nordic countries to upgrade their preventive work, and to mitigate the effects of cognitive decline in the population.

This report explores lifelong opportunities to promote good brain health and to prevent dementia later in life. It also looks at the crossroads between dementia prevention and other existing preventive measures that aim at improved health in the Nordic populations. This perspective examines both possible health synergies and what is truly unique for dementia prevention.

The Nordic Council of Ministers’ vision is that by 2030, the Nordics will be the most integrated and sustainable region in the world. Nordic cooperation is key to fulfilling this vision. Sharing examples of dementia prevention work is part of that topical Nordic cooperation. This report stems from the Nordic Welfare Centre’s project on dementia prevention in the Nordic countries that was initiated by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and funded by the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Health and Social Affairs.

We would like to thank Grete Kjelvik at the Norwegian National Centre for Ageing and Health, and the expert team behind her, professors Geir Selbæk and Anne Marie Mork Rokstad, for their dedicated work on this report. The report has been undertaken in close collaboration with project manager Pia Nevala Westman at the Nordic Welfare Centre. We are also grateful to the Nordic dementia network, the interviewees, and the reference group of Nordic experts for their significant contribution in the project. The names of the interviewees and participants of the reference group meetings are fully disclosed in the appendices.

We hope that the Nordic examples on policy and practice displayed in this report will inspire future work on dementia prevention and brain health promotion in the Baltics and the Nordics alike.