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The Tamil Nadu government will work to make the state "dementia friendly” and treat the condition as a public health priority, Health and Family Welfare Minister KG Arun Raj announced on September 18.
The Minister was speaking at the Dementia Conference (DemCon 2026) organised by the Dementia India Alliance (DIA). The conference was held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Research Park on September 18 and 19.
DIA is a national NGO that works with persons with dementia and their family caregivers. The organisation focuses on building awareness, early identification, diagnosis, care and support, caregiver capacity building, and pushes for inclusive policy making.
DemCon was organised in collaboration with Tamil Nadu’s Department of Health and Family Welfare, Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), Heritage Foundation, and Kshetra Assisted Living by Heritage ElderCare Services.
The conference is also in association with the National Institute of Mental Health Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), and the Centre for Brain Session.
The DIA’s State Dementia Action Plan, based on discussions held at the conference with stakeholders, was also presented to Minister Arun.
The two-day conference covered a range of subjects. Panels discussed concerns such as recent findings on dementia, early biomarkers, diversity in symptoms, varieties of care, public policy, and building support frameworks for caregivers.
Close to 10 lakh people in Tamil Nadu may live with dementia by 2036, according to projections, DIA said. At present, many do not have a formal diagnosis, and their families are forced to manage the condition without any trained support, they added.
Speaking to TNM, Ramani Sundaram, clinical neuroscientist and executive director of DIA, said, “One of the largest challenges is that people have a lack of awareness. Most of the time, the signs and symptoms of dementia are passed off as signs of old age.”
Stigma around mental health is another barrier, she said. “This is especially true among the elderly. The idea behind this dementia care conference is to introduce dementia to a larger and wider public.”
Ramani added that the need for awareness extends to the public, as well as medical and mental health practitioners.
She said, “The media has the power to destigmatise dementia and increase awareness. This time we are conducting DemCon in Tamil Nadu along with the Department of Health and Family Welfare because we have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) saying that the state will do work towards dementia care. The action plan is meant to ensure that those who are diagnosed with dementia get proper support and care.”
Shyam Vishwanathan, co-founder and vice president of DIA, also believes that dementia care requires more than medical staff.
He said, “Policymakers, governments, social workers, NGOs, hospitals, doctors, family therapists, and insurance companies need to be part of the discussion. Researchers must come up with newer and newer methods of early detection.”
Shyam added, “Dementia is not the devil. We have to fight superstition. We have to fight stigma. We need NGOs who work in rural areas to spread awareness that dementia is nothing to be ashamed of.”
He further said that young researchers must explore areas such as healthy ageing of the brain and body, slowing down the progress of dementia, and prevention.
Journalist and podcast host Vasanthi Hariprakash, who chaired the panel ‘Breaking the Stigma: Role of Media, Storytelling and Culture', spoke to TNM on responsible news reporting on dementia.
“Reporters need to highlight individual and societal impacts and then zoom out and ask what it is that governments, medical practitioners, and paramedics need to do. The story of dementia involves not just raising awareness. It really has to include all these dimensions.”
Vasanthi also highlighted, “Health Minister Arun Raj said Tamil Nadu will become a ‘dementia-friendly state’. It is definitely a fantastic proactive move. Reporters now need to take the onus to follow up and find out whether the state government is actually taking such steps. They need to ask: What does it really mean to make a state dementia friendly? Who is going to oversee it? Who will audit it?”
At the inaugural event, Minister Arun congratulated DIA for “bringing together clinicians, researchers, healthcare professionals, policy makers, caregivers, and organisations from across India and beyond.”
Recalling his late grandmother’s experience with dementia, he added, “It’s not simply a condition affecting memory. It affects a person's independence, dignity, and quality of life. It also has a long-term emotional, social, and economic impact on families and caregivers.”
