Pratchett to address Conservative Party tonight--From Rim to Hub

Pratchett to address Conservative Party tonight

29 September 2008 (14:42)

Terry Pratchett will be appearing at the Conservative Party Conference tonight in his continuing campaign for increased funding for Alzheimer’s research, saying it is under-funded compared to other diseases.

“I am appalled that research into Alzheimer’s and related diseases which affects 700,000 people in the UK, currently receives just three per cent of government medical research funding,” he plans to say in his speech tonight. “Perhaps that is why, for example, I know three people who have successfully survived brain tumours but no-one who has beaten Alzheimer’s.”

Pratchett donated £500,000 earlier in 2008 to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, for which Rebecca Wood is the Chief Executive.

“Dementia costs the UK economy £17 billion a year …” Wood said. “Politicians from all parties must recognise that the only socially just and financially prudent policy is to vastly increase funding for dementia research.”

The U.K. government spent £25 million on Alzheimer’s in the 2005-2006 period, an amount which a Department of Health spokesperson called “significant Government funding.”

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