CINTESIS is participating in the SINDIA project, which aims to “understand how socio-spatial inequalities affect people living with dementia and their informal carers”.

Oscar Ribeiro and Liliana Sousa are the two researchers from CINTESIS/University of Aveiro involved in this new interdisciplinary project, which brings together experts from the areas of Human and Health Geography, Psychogerontology, Social Gerontology, Economics and Health Sciences.

In the words of Oscar Ribeiro “the first aim is to understand how socio-spatial inequalities affect people with dementia and their carers throughout the course of the disease, that is, from the establishment of the diagnosis to its management in more advanced stages”.

This first major objective is followed by an understanding of how measures, policies and strategies aimed at reducing health inequalities between populations and territories can be promoted.

Supported financially by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), SINDIA is led by the Centre for Geography and Spatial Planning Studies (CEGOT – University of Coimbra).

Besides CINTESIS@RISE, other institutions are participating in this project, namely the National School of Public Health of the Nova University of Lisbon and the Universities of Liverpool and Lancaster, in the United Kingdom, among others.

One of the first initiatives of the project, a webinar with a conference and a round table on “Inequalities and Dementia”, will take place on April 17 and is open to all who wish to participate.

Dementia is a neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia. There are currently 55 million people living with dementia worldwide. In Portugal, there are around 200,000 people.