Interventions focusing on modifying individual behavior and lifestyle may represent a promising area in dementia prevention. As a cure for dementia is unlikely to be achieved by 2025, dementia prevention has become a high priority for many governments and national policymakers around the world. With increasing prevalence, it has been projected estimated costs will rise to £59.4 billion per year by 2050. Within the United Kingdom (UK), for example, the economic impact of dementia is estimated to be £26.3 billion per year including the associated costs of unpaid care, health, and social care costs. Dementia not only has huge impact on the individuals affected but also on their relatives who often act as primary carers, on the health care system, on society, and on the national economy. The 2015 World Alzheimer Report estimated there are 47 million people worldwide aged 60 years and over with dementia, and this is predicted to rise to 131.5 million by 2050. Dementia presents one of the biggest current social health care challenges. Īn area which is gaining increasing attention is the prevention of dementia. Case studies are particularly useful for analyzing policies in a real life setting and have been applied to investigate national public health initiatives and prevention of non-communicable diseases, for example secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in Ireland.
They can help in determining policy outcomes, as in the comparison of support for USA Affordable Care Act (ACA) across four different states. They provide a tool for exploratory enquiry to gain understanding of a current policy, for example reviewing national policy in Kenya to identify gaps in HIV policy and practice. Case studies are useful for generating information for policy creation and restructuring, as seen in the reform of the health system in Pakistan.
One such method is the use of case studies, a valid and common method for policy analysis applicable for researching policies from countries with any type of economies. Similarly, there are numerous methodological approaches that can be employed. Numerous health policy analysis frameworks and theories are available but more critical application is required as not all frameworks are necessarily transferable between high, middle, and low economic countries.
Such knowledge and understanding is essential to help determine whether future practice-based interventions, particularly those focused on lifestyle modification, have the potential to be effective. Although there is an array of evidence on evaluating specific policy intervention programs such as those on smoking cessation and increasing physical activity, analysis of overall national policy implementation and outcomes is more limited. Translation of national policies into practice, however, can be variable with barriers and challenges leading to variable provision at the clinical level. Analysis of health policies, therefore, is core to developing public health reforms, for understanding policy failures, identifying gaps, and developing future policy. Evaluation of such policies is essential for understanding the impact of policy outcomes on populations, communities, and individuals particularly with respect to behavior changes. National health policies are fundamental for improving the health of a population.