A two-day national conference on dementia – DEMCON 2025 – will be held at the GITAM Medical College in Visakhapatnam on December 5 and 6.
The theme of the conference is “Dementia in India and Andhra Pradesh – A Growing Public Health Emergency,” will focus on strengthening India’s dementia ecosystem through awareness, research, policy, and implementation-driven action.
Dementia has emerged as a public health emergency, with more than 88 lakh elderly Indians currently affected. According to the LASI-DAD 2023 study, Andhra Pradesh has a dementia prevalence of 7.7%, higher than the national average. By 2036, nearly 8 lakh people in the State are projected to be living with dementia. Dementia’s disturbing impact—rangeing from memory loss and behavioural changes to long-term dependency—deeply affecting individuals, families, and society at large. Due to widespread ignorance and stigma, almost 90% of people never receive a diagnosis.
There is a need for a trained dementia workforce, community-based support, and strengthening of district mental health systems.
DEMCON 2025 aims to accelerate these efforts and support the emerging State-level dementia action plan.
Around 800 delegates including clinicians, researchers, policymakers, students, hospitals, old age homes, caregivers, and elder-care organisations from across India are expected to participate.
The event is organised by Dementia India Alliance (DIA) in collaboration with GITAM Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (GIMSER), Senha Sandhya Age Care Foundation, NIMHANS, Centre for Brain Research and Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) along with the Government Mental Health Institute, Visakhapatnam.
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Published – December 03, 2025 08:29 pm IST
