Despite the fact that so many Americans suffer from Alzheimer's (as many as 5.
3 million, according to a report from the Alzheimer's Association), anyone with a loved one who suffers from the disease knows that it often doesn't get the national attention that it deserves.
Thanks to a new law signed into existence on January 4, that's going to change.
The National Alzheimer's Project Act-or NAPA, as it's known-was created to ensure that the United States has an "aggressive and coordinated national strategy to confront the present and rapidly escalating Alzheimer's crisis," according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Under NAPA, the HHS is required to create an advisory council that will not only be responsible for coordinating all federal research and services relating to Alzheimer's, but will also work to "accelerate the development of treatments that would prevent, halt, or reverse the course of Alzheimer's" (NAPA §2.
a.
3).
The advisory council will also strive to improve the sharing of information between organizations that are researching Alzheimer's, to improve early diagnosis, and to ensure that individuals of all races and ethnicities-especially those at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's-are included in research and available services.
In addition to all this, the new Alzheimer's advisory council will produce an annual report to present to Congress cataloguing its successes and its failures, and setting forth a course of action based on what's been learned.
To read more about the National Alzheimer's Project Act, go to the Alzheimer's Association site, or read the bill for yourself.