Dementia in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges

ABSTRACT

Objective: The number of people surviving until old age has been increasing worldwide. Reductions in both fertility and mortality rates, better living standards, nutrition and health care are claimed to be the key factors that increase the proportion of aged people within the population. Nevertheless, growing numbers of older adults also increases the susceptibility to diseases that commonly afflict the elderly, such as dementia. In this article, we discuss on the current issues of dementia in Malaysia and its challenge in providing a better management and services for this population. Methods and Results: Review of literature by searching the databases CINAHL, SCOPUS, MEDLINE and PsychINFO from June 2010 to November 2010 was done on the issues involving dementia patients in Malaysia such as ageing trend, awareness and availability of services. Conclusion: Despite a limited number of studies on dementia in Malaysia, literature revealed the importance of acknowledging the issues and improving the services for the patients. Efforts should be made by the government and private sectors to promote healthy ageing in Malaysia.