Pratchett demands dementia funding
28 November 2008
 Author Terry Pratchett has warned the prime minister that the UK faces "tsunami of Alzheimer's" unless more funding is given to the neurological illness. The novelist, who created the Discworld fantasy series and is a sufferer of Alzheimer's disease, visited Downing Street to deliver a petition to Gordon Brown.Signed by more than 20,000 people, the petition calls for more money to be allocated to research into the condition.Mr Pratchett said he is "appalled" that the neurological illness receives three per cent of the government's medical research funding and said it is a "matter of urgency" that this is increased.He told reporters: "A comparatively small amount of money and action now will prevent an awful lot of terrible stress and expense in the decades to come."The writer, who is a patron of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, also said experts have warned there could be a "tsunami" of the condition when the baby boomer generation hits old age.A recent survey by the Alzheimer's Research Trust and YouGov found four out of five older people want the government to increase dementia research funding. © 2008 Adfero Ltd. All rights reserved. Any views and opinions expressed in news articles are not those of Craegmoor Limited and its associated companies. News supplied by Adfero DirectNews.
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