Members of the Gabi Williams Alzheimer’s Foundation (GWAF) have reiterated the need to create awareness on Alzheimer’s disease. Recall Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that is not limited to elders, but afflicts the ageing in disproportionate numbers.

Speaking at the animation premiere and press conference of Remembering Tomorrow held in Lagos recently, a trustee of GWAF, Olatoun Gabi-Williams said Alzheimer’s is a disease of the brain.

To her, “it leads to loss of memory and thinking skills and ultimately it leads to an inability to carry out all the basic functions needed for daily living. Poor health of the brain is linked to several factors such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, smoking and periodontal disease.”

She added that Remembering Tomorrow is a brain health animated video message that is suitable on platforms, including BRT buses, cinema houses, online television, and traditional television. According to the lady, “it is a powerful intervention adopted by our foundation.”

Speaking further, she said the GWAF Brain Health & Healthy Ageing Outreaches is a flagship project of this foundation. By means of the outreach to faith-based and other organisations, “we are able to advance GWAF’s primary objective as set out in our constitution: create awareness about Alzheimer’s disease one type of dementia. We create this awareness from every key perspective on the disease. One perspective is an emphasis on healthy ageing and the health of our brains.”

On his part, Senior Officer GWAF, Ola Olaniyan Peter, identified the foundation’s areas of action as, continuous awareness and advocacy program on mental health; continuous awareness campaign on preventive approach; uptake of inter-generational dementia awareness and advocacy; curricula development on dementia particularly, by education policy bodies / institutions; core care program extension towards gerontology in institutions of learning; student research in dementia and volunteer programs in homes and facilities.

GWAF was inaugurated on September 11, 2017 to honour the life and work of Dr. Gabi Williams, a public health pioneer, who, 10 years earlier, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.