Alzheimer Internacional - Fundació Pasqual Maragall

With the agreement, the SAR group, one of the major players in the sector of care for the elderly, will become part of the patronage of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, in order to expand its funding for the development, promotion and support to research and development of prevention and care for those affected.

Alzheimer's is becoming an epidemic that affects 24 million people around the world, 6 million in Europe, between 500,000 and 600,000 in Spain. In the world, Alzheimer’s affects 10% of the population over 65 years and almost 50% of the population over 85 years. Alzheimer’s will be one of the major challenges that society will face during twenty-first century.

The Pasqual Maragall Foundation came about, in April 2008, as a response to the public commitment Pasqual Maragall assumed in October 2007 when he announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Through an international fund for research on Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders, the Foundation will create, develop and fund a center of scientific excellence at international level. The aim is to launch an international investigation on the basis of projects and ideas of young researchers from all over the world, proposing new conceptual challenges and unconventional projects, innovative and high risk.

The SAR group centers have specialized residential units dedicated to the care of patients of Alzheimer and other dementias. Last year, SAR residential and day centers attended around 5,500 people. More than three-quarters of them suffered from cognitive disorders. The group presided by Higini Raventós has a wide range of specialized services for the care of people with cognitive impairment, with 24 residential units specializing in Alzheimer's in their residences, 7 day care centers specialized in caring for such patients and 4 units of disorders conduct. The 6.350 professionals of the SAR group, which also provides home care, attend 121,000 people annually.

The SAR group and the Pasqual Maragall Foundation have worked together previously in various activities. In January, for example, the two institutions held a conference in Barcelona with the presence of the American researcher Zaven Khachaturian, a specialist in the world of Alzheimer's disease.