Doubling of spending on dementia research by 2025 is inadequate, say experts

The world’s leading developed nations have promised to redouble efforts to tackle dementia, after a meeting in London declared it to be a major global disease burden, already affecting 35 million people.

The G8 countries—the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia—promised to increase funding for dementia research, with the ambition of identifying by 2025 a cure or treatment capable of slowing the disease.

The UK, which currently chairs the G8, called the meeting and heralded the outcome as “the day that the global fightback against dementia began.” Jeremy Hunt, England’s health secretary, drew a parallel with the effort to tackle HIV and AIDS, which had led to effective treatments.

Seeking to …