H.M. Drottningens tal vid öppnandet av European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) Consortium General Assembly

Stockholm

(Det talade ordet gäller)

Ladies and gentlemen,

We live in an aging society. With rising prosperity and with medicines becoming more efficient, life expectancy is increasing.

This is indeed a very pleasant development. But it also poses new challenges. For us personally, for our families and for the society we all live in.

The number of people affected by dementia and other age-related conditions is rising at a fast pace.

While many will live for a long time as healthy individuals, others will live with one or more diseases. Many will be relatives of someone who is ill.

Over the past 20 years I have been working to raise awareness about the need for better care for our elderly and those suffering from dementia.

We need more research, more knowledge. And the knowledge that we have must be applied – not just in the care sector, but in all of society.

I am most excited to follow the progress of EPAD. By combining knowledge from industry and academia, this major European initiative will hopefully make it possible to bring new treatments to the market, in a faster and more efficient way than before.

I am also pleased to know that Sweden, through Professor Miia Kivipelto at Karolinska Institutet, is now taking the lead in the Nordic Region within this unique project.

Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to express my gratitude to each and every one of you that have chosen to conduct research in this important area.

Your work is important. Step by step, it is bringing us closer to the point where we will finally be able to prevent Alzheimer’s dementia.

I wish you all welcome to my beautiful home town Stockholm, and I hope you will have a rewarding meeting.

Thank you.

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