Nothing made the oft-repeated Women's Day messaging around preparing for retirement more real for me than my recent frequent visits to a home for the frail. In it the women outnumber men six to one. And the percentage of the women suffering from cognitive impairments that come with Alzheimer's disease or some other kind of dementia is around 60%. Already there are 50 million people worldwide living with dementia, which is not a normal part of ageing but a chronic illness that affects memory and the brain's processing ability, robbing you eventually of the ability to perform basic things like talking, eating, swallowing and walking. The World Health Organisation expects over the next 12 years that the number will grow to 82 million, and by 2050 some 152 million will be living with dementia. The estimated global economic impact is an incomprehensible $818bn (about R11trn) a year. Dementia is not only a women's problem, but it does affect women more severely than men as women make up t...
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