Alcove Project

ALCOVE is a Joint Action between EU Member States and the European Commission which aims to both improve knowledge on dementia and its consequences and to promote the exchange of information to preserve health, quality of life, autonomy and dignity of people living with dementia and their carers in European Union Member States.

The joint action seeks to answer the following 4 key issues:

1.- How to improve data for better knowledge about dementia prevalence?

Led by Instituto Superiori di Sanità (ISS) of Italy, with participation from Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos (THL) of Finland, the Institut National de la Santé et la Recherché Médicale (INSERM) of France, the Athens Association of AD and Related Disorders (AAADRD), Greece, the Ministero della Salute (MINSAL), Italy and the Karolinska Institute (KI) of Sweden, this group aims to assess available epidemiological studies with the scope of defining the  best criteria for improving epidemiological data collection on AD and other dementia.

2.- How to improve access to dementia diagnosis as early as possible?

Led by the Association for Dementia Studies (ADS), University of Worcester, UK on behalf of the Department of Health (DH), England, with participation from the Athens Association of AD and Related Disorders (AAADRD), Greece, Riga Centre of Psychiatry and Addiction Disorders (RPNC), Latvia, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, (LUHS), Lithuania, the Institute of Neuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of Sciences (NIU SAV), Slovak Republic, Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitarias (BIOEF), Spain and the Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden, this group will address the issue of diagnosis through the assessment of national recommendations for diagnosis and existing  health care systems for the early diagnosis of dementia and an evaluation of their implementation.

3.- How to improve care for people living with dementia and particularly those with behavioural disorders?

Led by Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos (THL), Finland, with participation from Fondation Roi Baudouin (KBF), Belgium, Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), France, Athens Association of AD and Related Disorders (AAADRD), Greece, Ministero della Salute (MINSAL, UNIBS), Italy, Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitarias (BIOEF), Spain and the Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden, this group will assess the existing practices regarding care, both at home and in institutions, and the training practices involved in educating care givers and/individuals in other professional health care categories.

4.- How to improve the rights of people with dementia, particularly in respect to advance declarations of will (ADW)?

Led by Fondation Roi Baudouin (KBF), Belgium with participation from Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos (THL), Finland and Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, Espace Ethique (EEAPHP), France, this group will address the issues of autonomy and dignity as they affect people living with dementia from an ethical and legal perspective.