The overall prevalence in the world is estimated to be 6.3 million. More than 1:10 people with Parkinson's are diagnosed before the age of 50 (2004).
The Global Declaration was created by the Working Group on Parkinson's disease, formed by the World Health Organization in Geneva, on 27 and 28 May 1997. It called on world governments and all healthcare providers to take strong and decisive action to meet the objectives and recommendations on the educational management and Public Health implications of Parkinson's disease as agreed at that meeting.
Specifically, the declaration urged every government to:
- support the World Charter for people with Parkinson's disease
- increase public awareness of Parkinson's disease as a priority health challenge thereby reducing its stigma and remove discrimination against people with Parkinson's disease in the workplace
- improve the lives of people impacted by Parkinson's disease by ensuring that they receive appropriate treatment and reform medical education in support of the WHO 'Health for All' initiative
- encourage all health authorities world-wide to support the WHO 'Health for All' concept, and implement a Parkinson's disease programme consistent with resources available at each stage of industrial development to achieve co-ordination of effort by health workers within the three -tier model of service delivery
- arrange care across the full spectrum of the illness, structured in accordance with the results of cost effectiveness studies
- encourage partnership between neuroscientists and health workers to devise ways to improve access to care and treatment for all people with Parkinson's disease and foster practice guidelines to assist health care workers in the management of medication side-effects, especially among the elderly
- support a partnership between doctors and other health care workers with voluntary (non- governmental) organisations representing patient interests to promote better understanding of Parkinson's disease
- reach out to all ethnic and cultural groups of patients, and to overcome negative attitudes in society towards chronic neurological and psychiatric illness and provide practical assistance for countries with underdeveloped Parkinson's services
- encourage research into Parkinson's disease and the development of multidisciplinary teams to improve its management.
Full information on the Charter and Global Declaration can be found on the EPDA website:
