Dr. Abubacarr Jah has revealed that one in three Gambians aged 85 years and above suffers from dementia (the memory robbing disease).

However, he clarified that the disease doesn’t only affect old people but can also young people in their 30s. 

Dr. Jah added that so far no tangible evidence has been shown to be the cause of dementia disease but continued that stroke and vascular disease are among causes of the disease.

“Some people by the time they are 65 years old they start losing everything. That’s what we call dementia. And the most common cause is Alzheimer’s disease and we don’t really know what causes it. We don’t know the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

“But there are other causes of dementia like stroke can lead to dementia, and like loss of blood supply to the brain can lead to dementia which we call vascular dementia. But we don’t know what causes it, and know that one out of three people who reach the age of 85 going above have dementia,” he said.

Dr Jah said dementia starts gradually in the affected person and that one of the common signs is losing memory.

He advised people to be patient and supp of people living with dementia in order to rescue them from causing harm to themselves because they can easily get angry, while urging them to regularly stick to the prescription of trained medical experts.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba