Finally, there will not be a 4th Alzheimer’s Plan as such. After the 2001-2005 Alzheimer’s Plan, which was particularly centered on the diagnosis of the disease, the 2004-2007 Alzheimer’s Plan which provided for ten objectives for better management of the disease and the 2008-2012 Plan which provided for spending 1, 6 billion euros to fight against its progression, the government has just announced that the 4th National Plan will be extended to 3 other diseases (Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Charcot’s disease) which are also progressive and disabling for the patient and his family. He was therefore baptized “National plan for neurodegenerative diseases 2014-2019 “.
“This change in approach should make it possible to create more synergy and unity around a common issue, that of neuronal protection” underlines the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Marisol Touraine.
Big ambitions, few resources
In France, 850,000 people are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, 150,000 by Parkinson’s disease and 85,000 by multiple sclerosis. These diseases have in common that they affect the nervous system (in various ways), that they are debilitating conditions and that they have no treatment that can cure them. The only existing drugs act only on the improvement of the symptoms and the quality of life.
For this National Plan, the government has set 3 strategic axes:
– Improving the diagnosis and care of patients with, in particular, the creation of 24 expert centers dedicated to multiple sclerosis and the consolidation of 25 specialized Parkinson’s centres, in addition to the existing Alzheimer’s reference centres;
– Ensure the quality of life of patients and their carers with, among other things, an increase in home support with 74 new Alzheimer’s specialist teams and the conduct of experiments to adapt this approach to Parkinson’s disease and sclerosis in plates;
– Develop and coordinate research.
The previous Plan had a budget of 1.6 billion euros, of which only 64% had been spent in 2013. This new national plan remains much more discreet on the subject and does not quantify the amount of its ambitions . For patient representatives, this lack of an overall budget is a very bad signal: “if there is no funding, it will be a pious declaration of intent” underlines Marie-Odile Desana, president of France Alzheimer. “There is no timetable, no hierarchical objectives, no means traced” regrets for its part the association France Parkinson.
