world Alzheimer’s day

Alzheimer’s is a disease that often encounters staggering amounts of ignorance, or worse, misinformation in India. If you are reading this blog, you are privileged in a sense: you know what the Internet is, you know how to browse through it, you know English enough to understand this writing and you know the use of computers.

The situation in the slums is different. Though Dharavi is as vibrant a place as a mini-metropolis, education levels and health awareness are dismally low. Even within the educated classes, few people will be able to tell you what exactly Alzheimer’s is; not much then can be expected of the lower socio-economic strata. September 21 was World Alzheimer’s Day. Very few people seemed to notice.

To mark the occasion, Shield Foundation collaborated with Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI) and organised street plays in Dharavi. The plays were aimed at educating Dharavi residents about the disease, its causes, symptoms, prevention and ways to manage it. The biggest tragedy with a condition like Alzheimer’s is that the patient’s family, if ignorant, simply fails to recognise it as a disease – often dismissing it as ‘simply old age.’

The street plays used placards, charts and slogans to drive home the point. The aid and equipment needed to manage the disease were also explained. The street plays were organised by Swati Ingole Treasurer, ARDSI with the help of eight student volunteers. The touring street plays performed for four hours in various places in Dharavi.

On September 25,  Shield and ARDSI organised an Intergenerational Sensitisation Workshop for Senior Citizens and National Service Scheme (NSS) Students. This was organised in collaboration with South Indian Educational Society (SIES) College, Sion. Given below are brief profiles of the speakers at the workshop:


Dr. Daksha Pandit is a former Head of Department, Preventive and Social Medicine (PSM) at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal College and Hospital and HOD of PSM at Terna Medical College, Navi Mumbai. She is also a recipient of ‘Savitribai Phule Award’ for best teacher by Mumbai University. She chaired the workshop.

Dr. Shirin Barodawala is a former HOD, Neuropathology at J. J. Medical College and former Secretary of ARDSI. She has contributed to ARDSI as a long standing Honorary Secretary helping with issues like Dementia and Alzheimer’s. She gave a half an hour overview of Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Nilesh Shah’s session was on Living with Alzheimer’s. He outlined stress management tips for patients’ care givers. He also suggested memory exercises that can be useful for patients. His talk lasted one hour.

For the next half an hour, the panel of speakers answered questions raised by the audience. 40 senior citizens and 40 NSS students attended the workshop. Refreshments were served to all before ending the programme.