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Germany’s national strategy on dementia


Germany’s national strategy on dementia was developed between 2019 and 2020.

It builds on precedent initiatives of the federal government such as the so-called „Alliance for people with dementia“, on existing measures of the long-term care insurance and health insurance systems, as well as on activities of the federal states (Länder) and non-governmental organisations. In addition, dementia plans and guidelines of other countries and international organisations were taken into consideration.

Governmental actors of different policy areas and of all administrative levels, and over 50 relevant organisations and interest groups were involved in the drafting process. The strategy identifies the following four priority fields of action:

1) building dementia-inclusive communities,

2) improving support for persons living with dementia and their family caregivers,

3) improving medical care, nursing care and long-term care for people with dementia, and 4) promoting research on dementia.

All involved actors agreed on 27 goals and 162 measures to substantially improve the situation and living conditions of persons with dementia and their families. Many measures thus focus on enhancing the quality of everyday life of people living with dementia and the quality of care in various care settings. Examples of such measures are increasing the number of local dementia networks, conducting coordinated campaigns on dementia-awareness, more schooling on dementia for different target groups, promoting dementia-friendliness in hospitals and long-term care facilities, and fostering research and better transfer of research results into practice.

The implementation of the strategy will be regularly monitored to ensure sustainable improvements and to allow necessary adaptations to new challenges such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy’s goals are interlinked with other governmental strategies such as the so-called "Concerted Action on Care" ("Konzertierte Aktion Pflege") which was signed in 2019 to improve schooling and working conditions for (ongoing) professional care workers in Germany.

The strategy in its entirety and further information can be found at: https://www.nationale-demenzstrategie.de/