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Overall ranking Table 12 shows the rank each country was able to achieve in each of the ten categories. As can be seen from table 12, different countries excelled in different categories. 13 different countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain and the UK- both England and Scotland) came first in at least one of the 10 categories. Three countries however excelled and could score first place in three different categories: • Finland came first in care availability, care affordability and in the number of international conventions ratified. • Ireland came first in the treatment, dementia as a priority and employment right categories. • The United Kingdom (England) came first in the categories treatment, dementia friendliness and legal rights. In order to calculate the overall ranking of countries, we based the global score on a combined score of the ten different categories with each contributing m% to the overall score. This score is presented as a percentage of the over-all maximum score which countries could have achieved and leads to the following ranking as shown in figure 13. According to the overall ranking, Finland, the United Kingdom (England) and the Netherlands were the countries which had the most dementia-friendly policies in place, with Albania, Latvia and Bosnia and Herzegovina being the countries which need to make the most progress and reforms to improve the lives of people with dementia in their countries. When looking at the map of Europe (see map 5 below), we can see that there are significant differences across Europe with countries in Northern and Central Europe generally scoring much better than countries in Southern Europe.

The latest epidemiological data indicate that currently Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects about 47 million people, and by 2050 this figure will rise to more than 115 million. The latest approximation point out that over 85000 people in Croatia suffers from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias. The VVorld Health Organization (WHO) in 2012 recognized Alzheimer's disease as global public health priority, and ordered ali its members, including Croatia, to act, i.e. primarily drafting ACTION PLANS / NATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR COMBATING AD. In order to develop a common national strategy to combat AD we believe that the best and most effective way was to form an alliance of interested groups, which would develop and adopt that basic consensus document. Croatian Society for AD and Old Age Psychiatry, CroMA and Alžheimer Croatia were the main initiators and endeavoured to gain more members to Croatian Alzheimer Alliance (CAA), or in Croatian language Hrvatska Alzheimer alijansa / HAA. The initial public invitation to join the CAA was sent to ali interested parties, and the associations listed below have already joined the CAA: Croatian Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapy ; Croatian Society for Neuroscience ; Croatian Association of Palliative Medicine ; , Croatian Society for the Protection and Promotion of Mental Health ; Croatian Neurological Society ; Croatian Psychiatric Association ; CEPAMET ; Association for Promotion Quality of Life "Medveščak" ; Association "Together". The draft proposal of "The Croatian Strategy for Fight Against Alzheimer's Disease (2015 - 2020)" was assembled by members of the Croatian Society for AD and Old Age Psychiatry and Alzheimer Croatia, enveloped the national specificities on the basis of the existing plans of other countries taking into account the recommendations and advices of Alzheimer's Disease International and Alzheimer Europe. The draft of strategy was published in the congressional supplement Neurologia Croatica nd for the first time was presented and discussed on round table during CROCAD-14 in Brela, Croatia. The second public presentation was during national congress of psychiatrists in Zagreb. The public discussion will last until the end of the year, when the final text of the Croatian National Strategy for Combating AD will be adopted and published in Croatian and English, to make it available for other countries in the world, especially those from the European Union. Croatia, as part of the EU, should be in this segment of caring for the vulnerable population. We are aware that it will take some time for Croatia to catch a European port in the level of care for people with dementia, but vvithout the initial concrete steps, such as an adoption of national strategy against AD, we cannot move forward.