♣Public health policies, dementia care and support in LMICs

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that low‐and‐middle‐income countries (LMICs) develop national plans to formulate public health policies in response to dementia Across Africa, no country has developed a national dementia strategy to date. Although Kenya is in the process of developing a national dementia plan, much work remains to develop care pathways that meet the diverse needs of persons with dementia across the Kenyan population. In a study on perceptions and experiences of dementia and its care in rural Kenya, family caregivers reported negative experiences of disclosure of a diagnosis of dementia. They also reported limited and insufficient provision of information on dementia. The WHO Global dementia action plan has set the target of 75% of countries providing support and training programmes for carers and families of people with dementia by 2025.MethodAlzheimer’s Society of Ireland (ASI) family caregiver training was developed to help caregivers respond to the needs of people with dementia more confidently by developing their caring skills. Though set for a population in Ireland, there are many similar challenges that caregivers in both Kenya and Ireland share. To avoid reinventing the wheel, we adopted the ASI caregiver training programme to be used in Kenya. We conducted a baseline survey to understand the needs of caregivers in Kenya before beginning course adaptation and training. . Due to COVID‐19, the training couldn’t be conducted in person and we conducted the training online with two goals:• To provide quality online education to family caregivers to provide person centred care.• To create peer support for caregivers.We adopted and piloted 6 modules of the training. We used WhatsApp and Zoom to facilitate learning for caregivers, employing micro‐learning between weekly sessions.ResultI will present the lessons learnt from culturally adapting a course for family caregivers in Kenya and providing online training for caregivers in Kenya.Conclusion There is an urgent need for more funding in LMICs to grow programs that provide support for caregivers and people with dementia. Programs to build capacity for more people who provide training on dementia are essential to grow awareness and understanding.