An important victory for Alzheimer’s disease patients advocates occurred last month when the U.S. Congress approved legislation that can significantly increase the federal budget allotted for research and development on newer and better approaches to prevent and treat this common form of dementia. Larisa Kofman, the public policy director for the Alzheimer’s Association’s Oregon Chapter in Portland, said “We’ve definitely made some strides."

According to the National Institutes of Health website, about $566 million was spent on research projects that involved Alzheimer’s disease during the last fiscal year. Kofman said, while the funds invested in research on Alzheimer's disease may appear to be a significant amount of federal money, when compared to the funds invested in projects for cancer ($5.4 billion), HIV/AIDS ($2.9 billion), and cardiovascular diseases, it is clear the amount allotted is notably smaller. Furthermore, the money spent on Alzheimer's research is nothing compared to the $214 billion spent by the country on healthcare for those suffering from dementia. Unfortunately, this value is only expected to increase considerably over the next years.

The association made cruc