lead to a humanitarian disaster of extraordinary proportions elsewhere around fifty nigerian school girls are feared missing after a book around fighters attacked a village in the northeast of the country a roll call at the girls' school in on monday night showed that ninety one students were missing nigerian police deny any abductions have taken place. brazil's senate has passed a decree which puts the military in charge of security in rio de janeiro the measure allows the army to take command of police forces in the crime plague state where violence is by eight percent in the last year present shall tame a once drug gangs of virtually taken over rios metropolitan area of twelve million people. and students from the florida high school west seventeen people were killed last week a been rallying in the state capital of tallahassee calling for a ban on assault style weapons and stricter controls on firearms president donald trump is meeting parents students and teachers who've been victims of gun violence later at the white house. the headlines more news coming up in about twenty five

minutes time but the stream is coming up next on al-jazeera also a bit later on to stay with us by phone now. ok and you're in the stream now live on you tube today living with dementia it impacts the efforts to tackle it and the pining developments helping those affect it.

dementia can be devastating for those living with it as well as their family and friends patients with the illness a daily battle to unlock memories get around and complete routine tasks that affects millions around the globe and the numbers are expected to drastically increase how experts predict them to arrive particularly quickly in china india south asia and the western pacific region while the effects are some forms of dementia can be alleviated through drug treatment a cure remains elusive joining us to talk about this from maryland very wet no ski demential rights advocate who was also diagnosed with dementia twelve years ago in georgia jackson a clinical manager with the dementia tour and that's a program that stimulates dementia and used as a resource to train people in patient care in the u.k. michael bloomberg is a professor of applied dementia research at no it's medical school he also helped

design a mobile game called c. hero quest it gathers data related to the illness and in switzerland to groom do she's a medical officer with the world health organization working in the field of neurological disorders hello everybody it's good to have you here mary when did you realize that something was going wrong with your health so you were diagnosed with dementia twelve years ago what were the signs how did you even know. well actually the first signs or are rather nebulous so there were funny things going on i was remembering things differently from other people i didn't forget things and i just remember different events or different things that happened differently so that was kind of strange but it was when i was teaching at the university that i especially noticed it when i told the students that they needed to turn something in one day and. they said no no you didn't even give

that assignment so then i started realizing that twenty students in the classroom knew something that i could kill so at what point do you feel comfortable about telling people that you have to tell them straight away dana white a little bit what do you. that's a good question originally twelve years ago i was diagnosed with dementia i was actually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and then i was undiagnosed and then i was diagnosed with something else that was wrong and then i was actually correctly diagnosed i years ago. so it's only been in the last five years that i've even been telling people and the answer is i didn't tell them right away for the most part. of the stigma and the responses that i or pretty much gary people. stay away or just kind of tilt their head and really sad look on their face

so i don't usually tell people right away unless i'm advocating a specific set of like an actual person on the bus for example like their ranch. i'm a i'm sure a lot of people in our online community can relate to what you're saying and that stigma that so many people face the same here says she's dealing with a member of her family who is suffering from dementia and alzheimer's to be specific to seems has my family refused to consult the doctor for a long time even though the early symptoms of immediate memory loss began showing because of this common belief that dementia is a natural stage of aging and there's really nothing that medicines can do so michael take us through this is two things one knowing in the knowledge that alzheimer's is not necessarily equal to dementia and two is that a natural part of aging is everyone going to go through it yes i think it's a great point that you know alchemist disease is only one dimension dimension is

a number of. course many different diseases and i'll tell mr. of dimentia and people with on some of this usually have memory problems and for a long time it was really thought that people who when they age they would old develop dementia for example it would be but just part of norman aging but now we know of course that it's of a disease which actually develops only in some people and where the proteins in the brain start clumping together and become toxic to the no cells and a no so stop dying want to show you a cough back here is the out sign as the disease international globe and it's showing you. how many people around the world suffer from out sinus and in americans who have over nine million ten million in europe four million in africa twenty two million all over to room this is

a widespread issue this isn't and that's just outside of us it's not in any other complications from dementia do we understand it well enough right now hell in terms of what this move for the global population i think that's a very important point that you reduce the number of people affected by dementia and actually if you look at the map in twenty seven the numbers have climbed up from forty five million to fifty million so there are every want cases of dementia and if you think about there is actually one case every three seconds say five one thousand but one thousand to one thousand three there is a new dimension and what it means it means that if we think about these numbers which are fifty million today by twenty fifty this is going to triple so we're talking about of burden of one fifty million people living to mention. now. let

me stand section that we have is that dimension is a problem in countries which is not true it's a problem all over the world and do that it's not them in africa it's a problem in the it's a problem in countries so dust meaning that it requires an economic response and the point to remember is that it's a growing budget and it's a global problem is they cannot act so if you look at the billions of dollars lost you to me it's more than eight hundred billion and by twenty it's going to be more to do trillion dollars so really to quiet a coordinated response and that has to happen today by all of us. one of the main things that need to actually teach people how to tag the people with dementia if this is happening in your family you're watching this program and you're thinking i think that might be a member of my family what would you advise people to do what should they be doing

well the first thing is to get some good information. and the you can do of course web searches you're going to get a hollow platter of information i would say if somebody suspects that there's a problem see your health care provider because there's there are many things that can mimic dementia there are things that we can resolve but either way. the sooner the men she was addressed the more we can do for that individual so i would say the first the first step is definitely you have to see that health care provider get evaluated find out what's going on and then if there is dementia and look to your local resource agencies and see what it is that they have that they can provide if you can't find anything wrong. there's agencies a national level in most countries that can. raise to start getting

information about the disease process so going to complicate that just a little bit here because we got so many stories from people who are caring for their loved ones with dementia this is one from a bond she sent us the video coming out of pennsylvania and here's her specific story. my mother is at the many can immigrant and she has alzheimer's disease and it's really difficult for anyone across all color lines who have this disease recently my mother had to be placed in a nursing home and that was one of the most difficult things i've ever done in my life and the support it's just not there the information it's not there it's not culturally sensitive it's not taking into account my mother's background in her experiences it's it's like a one size fits all but the one size is a size for white people. similar i could see you nodding there as she was talking

about this being a one size fits all solution that of course then doesn't fit everyone right right one of the things that we do you know second wind dreams is number one we're trying to change the perception of aging and what it's like for people with dementia but one of the things that we have our trainers all across the country and in several other countries that are working in an environment such as. nursing homes and assisted living home help hospice all kinds of things and working to help change those. when i'm under some of the thing i'm more culturally sensitive there are more sensitive to what it's like for folks who have to mention and so we're trying we're not you know we can't be everywhere but we are trying so i think if that's that's a concern in your need isn't getting met please go to you're welcome to get in touch with us and we can help problem solve some of those those issues with with

you know you know one of the things that you and your team actually does is you create a dimensional virtual tool so they give us potential pack of us can work out what is it like to have to mention so this empathy that one of our reporters from his name is told ackerman he took this demential toll he's a little clip of his report having a goal to follow simple instructions but the eyeglasses blubs headphones and shoe inserts the women have to wear make the tasks they're given almost as disorienting is for a person disabled by the disease but what's happening difficult and even startling as i myself discovered by taking the virtual dimentia to resident fire engine what do i though. i was surprised at how how easy and just anxious i fell. because i know it's for pretend i know it's not real but yet

just being in there i still feel that anxiety really being this lack of empathy the way that people who have to treat hate can you spell it out for us because i can the kind that. i can say that all people are lacking in empathy because a lot of people have gone through other similar types of situations and you've ever been immobilized pool for a certain reason or if you lost your hearing or lost one of your other senses so there are similarities that some people have gone through but the problem with. dementia is that it's an invisible disability and according to the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities from the united nations. we have certain rights certain human rights and these still must be met the problem is one we try

to have them that are when we ask that they be in there that they are number. the government agencies or other types of service providers that sometimes don't believe that we even have a condition and we don't have the dimensions for example if i can still be articulate they say oh well you're fine or if i can pass certain exams they say oh you're still doing about average and that should good enough so i find that there is a an almost prejudice against certain people and it's not necessarily an emotional lack of that although i'm sure that happens also. but here's one story that i want to share this is from test me one twitter he says my mom is taking care of my gran who is an alzheimer's patient and it's been depressing to see how it's draining my mom physically and emotionally the thing that it is it's one long sad story with no gratifying moments she goes on to say my grandmother doesn't do well with anyone

else so my mom unfortunately can't take a break from looking after her i think what my mom and other caretakers need is more emotional support from the community so michael i know what you told our producers ahead of the show and just name is writing us from india that you often work with people around the world who have some misconceptions about what dementia is how do you address that challenge it's very difficult and especially in countries where maybe it's not just accepted to be as free as a disease but seen as. it can be very challenging full time at least six kept it that is really a disease happening so we work with people not only because most research i guess and most talk gnostics it's always you know western europe and north america has been very strong but really developing countries has been very often overlooked so we work for example with people in india or brazil where we're looking at for

example patients who have very low education what you can literally how do they get to time like no it's just how are they to keep off which can be really really challenging and looking at those symptoms we see there are a lot of similarities of course between people but there's also these country specific social and cultural issues which you need to take into account which we've heard already before. this kind of how do you take to a person background into account how educated there are whole which culture to coming from what kind of family values to have can be really really challenging in that way than to support in the best way you can or even even acknowledge them terry what were you going to say go ahead yeah so i was going to add on you know i think. the thing that michael mentioned about the community attitudes and these are major issues in specially in developing countries the myths that surround and very often you would see that human rights are violated people with dementia might be

died or they may not be able to go out so the issues of social isolation the they come in so and in addition what also happens to many of these low and middle income countries in developing well we do not have a response so for example if you look at the number of countries which have a dementia policy or strategy most of them these are in high income countries so if there are thirty odd countries today with the national dementia policy twenty seven twenty eight are the high income countries in their only couple of countries from the developing world that have thought about that that response so really what we need is one changing the attitudes of the people so raising the of their nose and understanding about dementia community. and then strengthening our systems i think what we heard earlier that we don't have services that don't deliver to the needs of the people and i think that's extremely important and it requires investment

from countries from the governments and we require that response across all the three levels if we want to see that every people with dementia at their care givers their families receive the care and support that it's quiet. right now there's some very interesting pioneering research going on and some very interesting policies let me show you a place called. it is in the netherlands it is a village everybody in this village apart from the keris has dementia have a look started without vision a normal life for people with severe dementia. people have to say no one's fair use day rhythm so we have less behavior problems. more important resident feels more at home they're free so they can do anything they want but where there's safety. it's another way of thinking

you cannot prevent everything but you can work on quality of life and. so far. the feeling that you give is the feeling that people will respond i really find it a special place it's a it's a different place i think it's possible to have a comfortable normal life with severe damage. so we got this comment from derek fisher who is a dementia advocate on twitter and he knows very well about that village and he writes for those with dementia who are living there it offers freedom of choice it emulates life and i read a situation people are treated with ask people and they're treated with dignity it does not have a care home feel and it has a wonderfully structured open way of life but we've got these comments as well about the village this is dimension nigeria in their own blog dealing with people who have to care with people suffering from dementia they write i've heard about it

but financially under viable in our third world country i'm afraid another person also writes in something similar group says i've heard a little about it but are they financially feasible for every family similar finances is something that a lot of people are picking up on and they know that there are options out there but they wonder if they will be able to suit families who may not have those means . you know. a lot that we can do i think as caregivers regardless of finances so you know a place like that is wonderful there are some places where the night shift wears pajamas rather than traditional clothes so that helps the people realize that it's night time and it makes it much more calm well there's all kinds of different innovative things here and there we need to come up with what they say is a world culture to be more focused on the person's inner care and i think the

individual person whether it's they've got means or not can work towards providing person center care by one getting a little bit of awareness and understanding and empathy but also. focusing on the choices and and focusing on what that individual with dementia is still able to do and celebrating that rather than focusing on on all of their deficits of course you have to make accommodations for things but i think that something that any care long term care situation whether it's. the equivalent of nursing home or assisted living or put certain somebodies home or a small group homes living situation they may not have all those fancy bells and whistles but they certainly can. look at making offering simple choices and and learning some basic ways to approach people to make it more comfortable and easier more user friendly for that person with dementia likely even you want to come up

with something a little bit fancy and that was again a again me how does that fit into treatment of cats could see here and the pay that ok which explained how it was before we see it. yes so basically we develop a game which is pretty much hold on to and that people don't know that you can potentially prevent a lot of demand shit as long as you early enough identify people and that's really a challenge at the moment where we're most looking at memory when people have memory to sit and what we're thinking is that people have very very subtle navigation changes long before to have memory problems but to measure them is quite difficult so we develop this game which really measures navigation and in healthy people and and patients as well to see how to navigate to potentially then have to be diagnosed much and then hopefully treat them all so much michael as to say you have a bit of see here across iraq. now

it's having the strong today. and know for sure how would you explain to our viewers how africa arrives how do you walk around there it's a long shot. because it's so slowly progress their

condition and because people are fundamentally resilient and mary. normally are able to adapt to new situations. i've been compensating some consciously for many many years when you forget something regularly you start to write it down when you. pick up the wrong thing from time to time you make sure that the right thing is in the right place or but when in general you. have to think about the way you think and and it's something that anybody who has ever had to teach naturally does because before you can teach something to someone else you have to think about how someone learns it so basically i think that's what i've been doing i've been thinking about the way that i thought how i used to do things because it was so natural i it didn't

even occur to me it was almost automatic so now i have to think about it how i go about things and set things up so that it is possible for me to still accomplish what i want to accomplish because i have goals and i still intend to accomplish those goals as long as i can and many of those goals are much different from the ones i used to have. but i'm still able to do it because i'm still able to understand a lot of processing this is not possible for people with. much more advanced dementia but they can still learn and that's a big thing to really understand is that just because certain parts of our brain have been damaged other parts are still functioning we can really learn things so that's what i'd like to be able to figure out this question via you tube how can i spread awareness about dementia and my reach and there's an answer from the hunger be open to behavioral changes be patient and be simple. so thank you very much try

guess you got mary emma laura and michael it's been an education having you on the program we really appreciate your knowledge and your thoughts and your experiences are always online and i will see you. get a straight answer once. struggling with the effects of climate change sierra leone's dry season is on forgiving but

compounded by corruption and it's in wet season months lives that are claiming most lives i don't remember even your wall when one thing would be in one thousand one hundred died in two minutes people in power investigates the effects of deforestation and illegal building and asks what the future holds if those in authority fail to act the mountain will fall at this time on al-jazeera. the nature of news as it breaks there is a sense of renewed hope with a president who enjoys quiet he'll with detailed coverage they are dodging distractions that appear to be hurting president civility to manage the mideast peace crisis from around the world over one hundred thirty one thousand people are registered in the south korean database for separated family. what makes this moment this era we live in for the show unique this is really an

attack on the truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding but distortion is one of what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important level wise to publish if you have a duty to be offensive or provoke the thought of it as people did setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. i know i'm maryam namazie in london here the headlines on al-jazeera despite growing condemnation syrian government bombs continue to rain down on the rebel held district of eastern good sending it damascus nearly three hundred people have been killed since sunday in.