STRiDE: Strengthening responses to dementia in developing countries

Few countries are prepared for the challenges of the growing number of people with dementia
Health care practitioner working with an elderly patient with dementia
STRiDE project (Strengthening responses to dementia in developing countries) is funded by the Global Challenges Fund. 
Dementia affects more people in low and middle-income countries than it does in the UK or other high-income countries, yet few countries are prepared for the challenges of the growing number of people with dementia.

An introduction to STRiDE

The project examines current practice, both at a national level and for individual families, both to help people living with dementia to live well, and to ensure that family and other carers do not face excessive costs that could impoverish them or compromise their own health.
A core activity of the project is to understand the impacts of dementia in various cultural, social and economic contexts in order to support development, financing, planning, implementation and evaluation of National Dementia Plans. 

The Research

The research spans Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, Kenya, Indonesia, South Africa, and India.
Dr Nicolas Farina is co-ordinating Work Package 5 of the project (Professor Sube Banerjee MBE as lead), in which we will be generating new evidence about the prevalence, costs, and impact of dementia in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). He is also a member of the Work Package 3 team, and interim lead, which seeks to develop anti-stigma interventions for some of the LMICs involved in STRiDE. 
Our findings have fed into the development of an anti-stigma toolkit which can be used as a framework for countries to tackle dementia stigma internationally. 

Publications

  • Jacobs R, Schneider M, Farina N, du Toit P, Docrat S, Comas-Herrera A & Knapp M 2023 'Dementia in South Africa: A Situational Analysis' Dementia , DOI Open access
  • Farina N, Jacobs R, Turana Y, Fitri FI, Schneider M, Theresia I, Docrat S, Sani TP, Augustina L & Albanese E 2023 'Comprehensive measurement of the prevalence of dementia in low- and middle-income countries: STRiDE methodology and its application in Indonesia and South Africa' BJPsych Open 9, (4) , DOI Open access
  • Farina N, Rajagopalan J, Alladi S, Ibnidris A, Ferri CP, Knapp M & Comas-Herrera A 2023 'Estimating the number of people living with dementia at different stages of the condition in India: A Delphi process' Dementia , DOI Open access
  • Jacobs R, Farina N, Schneider M & on behalf of the STRiDE programme 2023 'Cross-cultural adaptation of the EAST and CASE screening tools for elder abuse in South Africa' Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect , DOI Open access