Medical professionals yesterday warned against the stigmatisation and demonisation of older people, saying they are not witches or wizards but exhibiting some medical conditions associated with old age.
The medical experts include a geriatric psychiatrist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Dr. Olufisayo Elugbadebo, and the Programme Coordinator, Brain Health Initiative Nigeria, Olajoke Akinyemi.
They made the call during the street sensitisation at Oje Market and distribution of food items to old people in Ibadan in commemoration of World Alzheimer’s Day.
The commemoration had the theme: “Time to Act on Dementia, Time to Act on Alzheimer.” September 21 every year is tagged World Alzheimer’s Day.
Dr. Elugbadebo, who is the Vice President of Brain Health Initiative Nigeria, spoke on behalf of the organisation’s President, Dr. Temitope Farombi.
Farombi is also a consultant neurologist at the UCH.
Elugbadebo said, “We run a memory clinic where we care for people living with dementia. For us in this part of the world, it actually means a lot. A lot of people still don’t know much about dementia and what one doesn’t know can’t act on. The theme of this year says time to act on dementia , time to act on alzheimer. There is a lot to know about dementia so that we can take the right action to mitigate the effects of dementia in our society.
“Signs of dementia include memory problems, forgetfulness, disorientation, difficulty in performing simple tasks, poor judgement, difficulty in naming things, incoherence, behavioural and mode changes, identifying people, and others.
“To handle the issue, the first thing is to hand a lot of information on what dementia is and what it is not. And to know that early diagnosis and treatment are very important. After diagnosis, we should access post-diagnosis support and treatment. It can be managed and take care of the risk support for them to still live a relatively good quality life.
“We had a campaign initiated by Dr. Farombi, which is dementia, is not witchcraft. Society needs to be aware that these symptoms are not witchcraft. We need to change our orientation and know that these are medical conditions that need attention. And we don’t have to stigmatise those have dementia but give them more support.”
On her part, Akinyemi decried the stigmatisation of old people suffering from dementia by tagging them witches.
The program coordinator said it is hogwash to label the elders showing signs of dementia as people whose nemesis is catching up with as a result of their past misdeeds.
She maintained that such a submission is an uninformed perception, which is one of the things Brain Health Initiative Nigeria has been trying to correct.
The medical professional said elderly people should be properly treated.
Adeyemi said: “The vision of the organisation is to improve awareness and change wrong perceptions on dementia and stroke. September is usually the day assigned for the commemoration of World Alzheimer’s Day.
“This programme is to create more awareness on dementia which is mostly common among the elderly people. That is why we are doing the programme among the elderly ones.
“There is a lot of stigmatisation in the community, whereby people suffering from dementia are tagged witches whose nemesis is catching up with them because of their past deeds. That is an uninformed perception which is one of the things we are trying to correct.”