By Fanuel Chinowaita
MUTARE – Chikanga Constituency legislator Lynette Karenyi has urged the Government to urgently develop a national dementia strategy, warning that the neurological condition is contributing to a growing number of elderly people going missing and facing stigma, abuse and violence.
Raising a point of national interest in Parliament, Karenyi said dementia was becoming a “silent epidemic” across Zimbabwe but continued to receive little policy attention despite its impact on families and communities.
“Almost every week, we read notices on social media, in newspapers and also in community WhatsApp groups, of elderly persons who have gone missing. Families desperately circulate photographs and plead with the public to help locate a mother, father or grandparent who simply walked away from home and never found their way back,” she said.
Karenyi argued that many of these disappearances may be linked to dementia rather than negligence or normal ageing.
“For many of them, the answer may not be negligence; it may not even be old age; it may be dementia, a progressive neurological condition that robs people of their memory, judgment and sense of direction,” she told the House.
The legislator, who also serves on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care, said an estimated 18,000 Zimbabweans are living with dementia but warned that the actual figure could be much higher because many cases go undiagnosed.
“It is estimated that about 18,000 Zimbabweans are living with dementia. Yet this statistic should not comfort us. It is not a measure of the true burden of the disease; it is a measure of the cases we have managed to recognise,” Karenyi said.
She said many families and communities mistakenly attribute symptoms of dementia to witchcraft or ordinary ageing, leaving patients vulnerable to discrimination and abuse.
Karenyi cited a recent incident in Budiriro North where an elderly woman who had gone missing was allegedly assaulted after being accused of witchcraft instead of receiving medical attention.
“When memory fails, we say someone has been bewitched; when confusion sets in, we call them a witch; when an elderly person wanders from home, we rebuke them instead of asking whether they require urgent medical attention,” she said.
“The greatest tragedy is that we are criminalising the symptoms of this illness.”
Karenyi called on the Ministry of Health and Child Care to develop and implement a comprehensive national dementia strategy focusing on awareness, prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, caregiver support and public education.
“I call upon the Ministry of Health and Child Care to urgently develop and implement a national dementia strategy to ensure that dementia is recognised as a medical condition deserving care and treatment, not fear, stigma or violence,” she said.
She also urged the Health Minister to present a ministerial statement to Parliament detailing provincial statistics on diagnosed and treated dementia cases to support evidence-based policymaking.
“Dementia steals memories; it must never steal dignity. Let us not become a nation that mistakes disease for witchcraft or abandons those who once carried us simply because they can no longer remember the road home,” Karenyi said.
Responding to the submission, Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda directed the Clerk of Parliament to write to the Minister of Health and Child Care requesting a ministerial statement on the prevalence of dementia and measures being taken to address the condition.
Mudenda said Parliament also wanted information on factors contributing to dementia, including diet, alcohol consumption and other health-related causes, as well as strategies to reduce its prevalence in Zimbabwe.
“We are all possible candidates of dementia as we grow older. It is a silent disease that is very insidious and yet it creeps into families among the elders,” the Speaker said.
The anticipated ministerial statement is expected to outline Government plans to improve dementia awareness, prevention and care across the country.