Under the patronage of H.E. Chief Executive Officer of Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs, President of King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Dr. Bandar Al Knawy, the Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs represented by Internal Medicine Department- Geriatric Medicine in cooperation with the Middle East Academy for Medicine of Ageing will host the upcoming 4th Middle East Conference of Age & Ageing and Alzheimer’s which will be held on the 6th of December 2016 at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences- Jeddah(KSAU-HS). The conference and the workshops will last for three days where the participants will discuss many scientific topics in order to gather efforts to obtain better health care services. In addition, the Conference Chairman, Consultant of Internal Medicine and Head of the Geriatric Medicine Division in King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, in KSAU-HS stated that this forum aims to shed light on the last updates in aging diseases, raise awareness level of the medical staff members who works in the field of elderly in regard to all scientific, research and therapeutic developments, improve elderly services as well as present recommendations to improve the infrastructure services for aging and Alzheimer's patients. Moreover, this forum targets physicians and health specialists from all specialties such as nursing, respiratory therapy, physiotherapy and others since it attracts nearly 350 participants.
Dr. Balbaid added that the dementia is characterized by the occurrence of functional cognitive deterioration, i.e. the ability to think, in a pace exceeding the pace of deterioration expected in normal aging and affects the memory, thinking, guiding, comprehension, arithmetic, learning and talking skills as well appreciation of things, but it does not affect awareness. The deteriorating in cognitive function is often accompanied or preceded by deterioration in the ability to control emotions, social behavior or enthusiasm, and he also said that the dementia is caused by a variety of illnesses and injuries affect the brain in the first or second place , such as Alzheimer's or stroke disease.
The percentage increase as people age, the percentage reaches more than 30% for those over 85 years, and he added that there is no cure for the disease so far, but there are medical treatments and interventions that will slow the progression of the disease and the deterioration of the patient's condition, especially if it is detected in its early stages. He pointed out that the current elderly people percentage in Saudi Arabia is up to 4% and it is expected to rise by 2050 to reach 18% which means that we really need proper planning which will serve the elderly in the future.
In addition, Dr.Balbaid clarified that a group of pioneering international speakers will participate in this scientific forum.
It is worth to mention that this forum will discuss eight main topics that have been selected accurately in the specialty of ageing diseases and Alzheimer’s including the global perception of aging, problems and obstacles of aging, mobility and functional weakness, the new definition of healthy age adopted by the World Health organization, depression and its treatment in elderly. Also, the forum will include lectures, workshops and discussions about the diseases associated with aging, the early detection ways and prevention of its complications such as high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as the major challenges faced by health practitioners in this field. Moreover, Dr. Balbaid pointed out that there will be six workshops attracted more than 80 participants focusing on aging challenges, the challenges of services development and quality indicators.
Last but not least, it is worth to mention that it has been approved to establish the Saudi Society of Aging Medicine under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, and this forum is accredited with 23 hours by (SCHS).