Dementia Cases Rising in Africa, Families Struggle With Next Steps

Dementia is becoming a growing health challenge across Africa, with cases rising sharply and putting immense pressure on families. Many caregivers are unsure how to provide proper support, given limited resources, stigma, and a lack of specialized healthcare services. This surge is straining households emotionally and financially, highlighting the urgent need for better awareness, infrastructure, and policy support to address dementia care and help families navigate the difficult next steps.

Dementia has remained largely unseen in Africa, partly because life expectancy here has historically been shorter than in much of the rest of the world.

At night, when the only light on the hill comes from the moon and the only movement is from branches stirred by a gentle wind, the chaos returns. The elderly woman becomes convinced her home is burning, and in terror, she hauls her table, chairs, and the few belongings she owns outside. Unable to soothe her, her son resorts to the only measure he believes will stop it. He secures her inside.

“She screams,” explains her son, 62-year-old Herbert Rutabyama, with a flat tone. “She hammers on the door.” For years, dementia went unnoticed in Africa, where lifespans lagged behind other continents. Now, with more people reaching old age, specialists are observing a rapid rise in diagnoses, each carrying deep burdens for patients and their families.

A wave of new dementia cases is anticipated across the continent as populations age. Even now, the strain on caregivers is evident, with families overwhelmed by the demands of illnesses like Alzheimer’s. They seek support in places where little assistance exists. In many African languages, there isn’t even a specific term for dementia.

On this day, staff from Reach One Touch One Foundation travel through a Ugandan village near the Rwandan border. As aid worker Moses Kahigwa approaches the woman plagued by nighttime terrors, he greets her with warmth, drawing on the sunny backdrop of the valley.

“You’re looking well!” he says brightly. But 87-year-old Alice Ndimuhara glares at him coldly. “This looks good to you?” she retorts.

It’s midday, and she has yet to eat. She has no money. Her body feels weak, her head constantly aches, and she has little strength left. Without visitors, she would have stayed in bed. “My life has no purpose,” she laments.

Her son, Rutabyama, returns from the fields in muddy rubber boots, sweat dripping from his brow. He cautions not to be deceived by her sharp responses—this is one of her better days. Several years earlier, she began wandering off and showing clear signs something was wrong. A visit to ROTOM’s clinic confirmed she had dementia. His father has since received the same diagnosis.

“Caring for them is incredibly tough,” he admits. When his mother roams during the day, he sets out to find her, sometimes discovering she’s reached the next village. At night, when her disorientation worsens, he feels powerless. He bolts her door shut, nails the window shutters closed, and ignores her pounding and cries to be freed. “You should know better,” she tells him whenever the subject is raised.

Unfortunately, this is not unusual. In 2022, the United Nations’ expert on the rights of older people, Claudia Mahler, warned in a report of elders being locked in rooms or tied outdoors, without naming the specific countries where it happens. Even in wealthy nations, dementia care is inadequate, with treatments offering only temporary relief for a condition that has no cure.

Here in Uganda, the options are virtually nonexistent. Rutabyama feels caring for his parents is his duty, but even if he could pay for institutional care, facilities are scarce, and the nearest is a full day’s journey away. As Africa’s population ages, the challenges of longer lives are surfacing in societies ill-equipped to manage them.

Some older adults lose mobility and are confined indoors without wheelchairs. Yet even wheelchairs would be of limited use where sidewalks don’t exist, roads are crumbling, and homes are cramped shacks. Cataracts often go untreated, leaving many blind. But when transportation to clinics is a struggle and eyeglasses remain unaffordable, surgical solutions feel out of reach.

Dementia invites social exclusion and even accusations of witchcraft. With so few specialists and no word for the condition in many languages, help is hard to find. Rutabyama doesn’t claim to have solutions. Nor does he attempt to justify locking his mother inside.

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Source: NDTV‍