Major new dementia awareness campaign launched by government

The government has launched a new campaign that will help the public to recognise and flag up potentially early indicators of dementia.

Entitled A Day to Remember, the campaign is being conducted with support from the Alzheimer's Society and is fronted by a number of high-profile celebrities, including Sir Michael Parkinson, Fiona Phillips and Gordon Banks.

The initiative will run for three months and will raise awareness of the condition, what the initial signs and symptoms look like and the need to visit a GP as soon as possible.

Government research shows that 50 percent of people would find it hard to talk about dementia to a loved one who might have it, while 63 percent would not be confident establishing the difference between dementia and normal signs of ageing.

Prime minister David Cameron said: "Nearly 400,000 people are unaware that they have the condition and so we want to make sure more people know what dementia is and how to spot those telltale signs."

The economic cost of dementia is 19 billion pounds a year, which is more than cancer, heart disease and stroke combined.