WRITTEN BY SUSAN BLOOM, ASBURY PARK PRESS CORRESPONDENT -- Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ, along with Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-PA, have proposed a bill that calls on the federal government to both engage in and lead a coordinated, international effort to address Alzheimer’s disease.

    House Resolution 489, introduced April 4, would help advance work for the treatment, prevention and ultimate cure of Alzheimer’s, as well as other forms of dementia.

    The bill represents the next step within an ongoing effort that Smith, chairman of the House Global Health Subcommittee, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chairman of the Alzheimer’s Caucus, has championed for years.

    According to experts from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease is a global pandemic.

    With people living longer than ever and an estimated half of those over the age of 85 expected to experience partial or full-blown Alzheimer’s disease, the current 35 million struggling with this incurable condition worldwide could more than triple to 115 to 135 million by 2050 if more isn’t done to address it.

    “Alzheimer’s is such a huge issue, and not enough people are focusing on it,” said Smith, who believes his own grandmother grappled with the disease 25 years ago. “Every country in the world will face an Alzheimer’s crisis of unimaginable proportions, so we need game-changing efforts to slowly if not completely cure Alzheimer’s in the long term — and help prevent its onset in the short term.”

    Among its objectives, the bill calls on the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into negotiations with the World Health Organization and facilitate partnerships with the private sector to develop a Global Alzheimer’s and Dementia Action Plan, emphasizing such key areas as research, clinical care, supportive services for patients and caregivers, prevention and health promotion, and public awareness and education.

    “We hope to bring together the best experts in a coordinated worldwide effort and to follow the model of plans that have been successfully working to eradicate other global epidemics, including HIV, malaria and tuberculosis,” Smith said.

    According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s is the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S., with a 68 percent increase in deaths caused by Alzheimer’s in the last 10 years alone.

    More than 5.2 million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s at a cost of more than $1 trillion a year. In New Jersey, an estimated 150,000 Garden State residents suffered from this form of dementia in 2010 (the most recent data available), and that number is expected to increase to 160,000 in 2020 and to 170,000 by 2025, with the number of family members and caregivers affected reaching more than triple that amount.

    Among next steps, Smith expects to participate in another hearing, during which a markup of the bill will help bring it to the floor of the House of Representatives.

    “We’ve found that even policy makers aren’t necessarily aware of the catastrophic costs associated with Alzheimer’s care and treatment that we’ll face unless we step up our efforts in the areas of research, clinical trials, and best-practice sharing. This is a humanitarian effort related to the care of loved ones, but also has a significant economic component,” Smith said. “We hope to get more people working the oars to get this ship moving faster.”

    This article was originally printed on Page April 22, 2014, and can be read online at:

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