Photography competition launched to educate people on Alzheimer’s

Dubai: When was the last time you did your maths mentally? Or figured out a puzzle or a question on your own without relying on Google?

If your answer is “years ago”, and you have underlying health conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and you rarely “exercise your brain,” then you’re a likely candidate for Alzheimer’s regardless of your age.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive degenerative brain disorder that causes problems in memory, thinking and behaviour. It is an irreversible condition that is associated with age but younger generations are increasingly being diagnosed with it.

“The youngest reported case of Alzheimer’s in the UAE is a 30-year-old female resident,” Desiree Vlekken, founder and CEO of Forget-Me-Not.org, told Gulf News. “This is more because of a culture of convenience. Our increasing dependence on technology even for simple tasks is slowly compromising our brain health. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.”

A 2012 World Bank report suggests that an estimated 0.5 per cent of the UAE’s population or about 29,000 people are potential candidates for Alzheimer’s. This is expected to gradually increase as even people as young people being reported to have early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Since official statistics on Alzheimer’s in the UAE are scant, Vlekken said it is difficult to pinpoint Alzheimer’s patients in the country and that is mainly due to the social stigma associated with having the condition.

To help eliminate this stigma, Vlekken and her group on Friday launched ‘A Photographic Memory’, a photography competition and exhibition exploring brain health in the UAE community. It aims to educate the public about Alzheimer’s by debunking misconceptions and prejudice against people with the condition.

The competition is open to all although there are no monetary prizes involved. Winning pictures will be featured at the Dubai Mall in September to mark the ‘Remember World Alzheimer’s Day.’ Deadline for entries is on June 4, the birthdate of Dr Alois Alzheimer, the German psychiatrist who discovered the condition of dementia and diagnosed the disease that bears his name.

For more information on the competition, visit www.4get-me-not.org.