Change the Future

In early 2023 Cure Parkinson’s commissioned a research survey and report titled: ‘Change The Future: Preventing a Parkinson’s Pandemic’ with the aim of understanding how well the world’s fastest-growing neurological condition – Parkinson’s – is perceived by the British public and to bring about an urgent action plan for change.

The results shine a bright spotlight on the misperceptions, low awareness and understanding of this devastating condition.

In the 2018 paper, The Emerging Evidence of the Parkinson Pandemic, the authors noted that Parkinson’s was exhibiting many of the characteristics of a pandemic. Parkinson’s impacts every corner of the globe; its prevalence is increasing in every major region and the trajectory is rising sharply in response to changes in aging, industrialisation and other external factors. Like other pandemics, the authors reported, “the Parkinson’s pandemic is experiencing exponential growth and no-one is immune to the condition”.

Were it an infectious disease, it would be appropriate to label it a pandemic as it exhibits most of the characteristics.

In the UK, every hour two people are told they have Parkinson’s. It is predicted that one person in 37 in the UK will receive a diagnosis of Parkinson’s during their lifetime.

Cure Parkinson’s believes this is an urgent problem, and we’re keen to echo the efforts of scientists who have labeled this a pandemic. Our report highlights the lack of awareness and understanding about Parkinson’s in the UK and demands drastic change by means of FOUR key actions:

• £90m needs to be urgently allocated from central government to finding a cure.
• More people to participate in trials.
• Filling a recruitment gap to secure more scientists working on a cure.
• Speeding up the clinical trial process.

Read our report now.