By Sharon Tawuya
Harare, (New Ziana) — Parliament on Tuesday called on the government to urgently develop a national dementia strategy, warning that the condition is becoming a “silent epidemic” with little policy attention in the country.
Raising a point of national interest in the National Assembly, Health and Child Care Portfolio Committee member and Chikanga legislator Lynette Karenyi said the growing number of missing elderly persons was likely linked to dementia, a progressive neurological condition that affects memory, judgment and sense of direction.
“Almost every week, we read notices on social media, in newspapers and also in community WhatsApp groups, of elderly persons who have gone missing. Families desperately circulate photographs and plead with the public to help to locate a mother, father or grandparent who simply walked away from home and never found their way back,” she said.
Karenyi said it was estimated that about 18 000 Zimbabweans are living with dementia, but the figure does not reflect the true burden of the disease.
“It is not a measure of the true burden of the disease, it is a measure of the cause we have managed to recognise, the countless men and women whose symptoms are dismissed as ordinary aging, confusion or witchcraft remain invisible within our youth system and absent from our national statistics,” she said.
She cited the recent case in Budiriro suburb of Harare where an elderly woman reported missing was found dressed only in a petticoat and was assaulted after being accused of witchcraft.
“Instead of recognising that she may have been suffering from a recognised disorder, she was brutally assaulted after being accused of witchcraft. That incident should disturb every one of us and it also demonstrates that in our society, dementia is still being interpreted through the lens of superstitions rather than silence,” she said.
Karenyi added: “When memory fails, we say someone has been bewitched; when confusion sets in, we call them a witch; when an elderly person wanders from home, we rebuke them instead of asking whether they require urgent medical attention. The greatest tragedy is that we are criminalising the symptoms of this illness”.
Karenyi said Zimbabwe currently has no national dementia strategy to guide awareness, prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, caregiver support and public education, leaving families to cope alone.
She called on the Ministry of Health and Child Care to urgently develop and implement a national dementia strategy.
“Dementia steals memories, it must never steal dignity. Let us not become a nation that mistakenly mistakes disease for witchcraft or abandons those who once carried us simply because they can no longer remember the road home.
“I, therefore, Mr. Speaker, call upon the Ministry of Health and Child Care to urgently develop and implement a national dementia strategy to ensure that dementia is recognised as a medical condition deserving care and treatment, not fear, stigma or violence,” she said.
Karenyi further called on the Minister to present a Ministerial Statement to Parliament providing disaggregated provincial data on diagnosed and treated dementia patients to enable informed policy formulation and effective oversight.
Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda supported the call and directed the Clerk of Parliament to write to the Minister.
“We are all possible candidates of dementia as we grow older. It is a silent disease that is very insidious and yet it creeps in families among the elders. So, I request the Clerk of Parliament to write to the Minister of Health so that he can give a Ministerial Statement and, in that statement, we want an indication on how we can control the situation and reduce the prevalence. One such issue is the diet, what you eat and the question of too much drinking alcohol is another cause and other causes that shall be stated by the Minister of Health,” Mudenda said.
New Ziana
