Sir Jackie joins the call to increase funding for dementia research

Sir Jackie has joined the call to increase funding for dementia research. Interviewed today in The Sunday Mirror, Sir Jackie and Race Against Dementia join with other dementia charities asking the government to outline their plans to increase funding to save the next generation of dementia scientists.

Figures obtained by Alzheimer’s Research UK show that in 2018-19, money to fight the condition fell to £27.7million from £49.1million the previous year. And it then dwindled to £22million last year.

Sir Jackie said

“If we want to make the same progress with dementia that we’ve seen in recent decades with cancer, we need a lot more researchers – and that’s before taking into account how much more complex a problem it is to understand the brain than any other part of the body.

Increased funding for research is crucial.  However dementia research funding has been significantly challenged in the last year.

I understand the government doesn’t have a bottomless amount of money, and this virus has had a hugely negative effect on everything, but dementia is Britain’s biggest killer and we can’t afford to ignore it.

I would be keen to meet Boris Johnson to speak to him about the need for more support.

We’ve just closed a round of fellowship applications with Alzheimer’s Research UK and we’ve had unprecedented interest this time – in part because of the scarcity of alternative funding for this career stage.
Sadly we won’t be able to fund all of the talented scientists that have applied. I just hope that they will find funding elsewhere, because if they don’t the risk is that these scientists will turn their talents to something other than the much-needed dementia research.”