29 Jul 2025

People living with dementia should not be discriminated, stigmatised and concealed, but should be cared for and supported, Sekgoma Memorial Hospital’s Dr Onkgopotse Oduetse said on Saturday at the dementia awareness campaign hosted by Pelonomi Foundation in Serowe,

Dementia is a severe disease that affect memory, thinking and ability to perform daily activities, although it is popular among people over 65 years, it can affect people younger than that. Dr Oduetse said that it was not a shame to have a parent suffering from dementia, adding that such people therefore should be engaged on what they like and not secluded at the back of the yards.

She also discouraged a popular trend where families would during holidays or weekends check in people living with dementia for admission at the hospital, adding that people living with dementia thrive well in a familiar environment as it gives them peace.

She further said that World Health Organisation indicated that 57 million worldwide were living with dementia, and further challenged Africans to conduct research on this illness because currently there were no known researches from Africa on this condition.

Pelonomi Foundation CEO, Ms Kago Paledi said that Batswana should not label people living with dementia ‘witches’ as most of them tend to sleep walk or wonder at night, adding that there was no cure for dementia, therefore supporting and engaging them was more helpful.

She said that people with dementia should not be isolated, but rather allowed to socialise and interact with other people, as isolating them aggravated their memory loss. For coping mechanism, Ms Paledi healthy eating coupled, exercises and engaging people living with dementia with board games.

Furthermore, she encouraged the community to take care of each other and to learn more about dementia. The event was themed Remembering Those Who Can No Longer Remember.

Giving a vote of thanks, MP for Serowe North Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe said that depression could lead to dementia, adding that as Botswana faced crippling economic downturn many might find themselves depressed.

However, he said that government came up with economic transformation initiative, soliciting from the public ideas on how to diversify the national economy away from reliant on diamonds only. ENDS