Alzheimer's Research: Why Doesn’t the NIH Allocate FAIR Funding?!

The Alzheimer's Association has released a fantastic and shocking new report with the latest Alzheimer's Disease (AD) statistics:

• 5.2 million people in the USA have AD
• Out of 78 million Baby Boomers (those born 1946-1964), a whopping 10 million will develop AD and 4 million will develop some other type of dementia
• Every 71 seconds someone develops AD
• The direct and indirect costs of AD and other dementias to Medicare, Medicaid and American Business is more than $148 billion each year!

(To view the 41-page report: 2008 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures)

I am on the Board of Directors of the FAIR Foundation (Fair Allocations In Research) which strives for equitable distribution of research funds from Congress and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for ALL diseases. Our goal is to bring awareness to the vast inequities in spending and to advocate for change.

The FAIR Foundation's latest figures (graph below) are also shocking, and illustrate how lobbyists and effective media campaigns can make such a huge impact on how research funds get allocated. Our government has only allocated $124 per Alzheimer's patient, $29 per cardiovascular patient, $50 per diabetes patient, yet allocated an astonishing $14,932 per West Nile Virus victim, and $3,052 per AIDS patient! Why shouldn't ALL diseases get an equitable portion of revenue?

* COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

NOTE: These figures are for US research allocations only. You may have heard that $15 BILLION was allocated over five years (pending to double to $30 billion) to fight global AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Notice that every year Alzheimer's kills nearly as many Americans (72,696) as the combined total for AIDS (16,316), prostate cancer (27,350), Parkinson's (17,898), Hepatitis C (12,000) and West Nile Virus (161).

And since Alzheimer's often occurs on top of other diseases and can last over ten years, soon there won't be enough caregivers, healthcare professionals and services to care for all the victims. And even though there are four medications that can slow/mask the progression of AD, better treatments and a cure just have to be found.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

You may also choose to join me and thousands who support the FAIR Foundation by joining FREE at http://fairfoundation.org/join.htm.

You can learn more about Jacqueline and find information about her book at ElderRage.com