Incurable
Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable and debilitating conditions that lead to progressive degeneration and death of nerve cells. Today in Europe, over 7 million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. This figure is expected to double by 2020 as the European population ages.

Shared vision
In 2010, to tackle this challenge, 22 EU countries launched the first Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on combating neurodegenerative diseases (JPND). JPND is a collaborative approach to health research between countries, with a shared vision to speed up progress towards new treatments, identifying preventive strategies and improving patient care.

Support
In Sept 2010, the JUMPAHEAD project was started, to help develop the JPND vision. JUMPAHEAD is a 3-year project coordinated by the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm).
JUMPAHEAD partners carried out a mapping exercise of the combined resources and current research status of neurodegeneration in Europe. The resulting mapping data estimates that EUR 370 million is spent annually on research into neurodegenerative diseases across Europe; but several areas are notably underfunded particularly clinical research and research into healthcare and social care.
 

Fight
JPND is investigating where this research activity on neurodegenerative diseases can be better aligned, and will look to build capacity in the research areas of most need in order to fight against the fragmentation of funding in Europe.

Read the full article on JPND and JUMPAHEAD.

Alzheimer's
This In Focus article is the third and last in a series on Alzheimer's disease and dementia in general, published in September 2013, World Alzheimer’s Month.
Visit www.HorizonHealth.eu for updates on the latest dementia-related research in the EU.