Malaysia Dementia Network – a national platform dedicated to strengthening dementia prevention and timely diagnosis in Malaysia.

Malaysia Dementia Network is the first study to bring together researchers, health care professionals, carers, community and voluntary organisations, and members of the public from across the country, to share knowledge, experiences, resources, build collaborations and focus research on what matters most to people living with dementia and their families.

The project is funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) and began in 2024.

Over 300,000 people aged over 60 years in Malaysia are estimated to be living with dementia and this number will reach half a million by 2040. While dementia research is gaining momentum, evidence on dementia prevention and timely diagnosis remains patchy and under-researched. To strengthen the evidence based and accelerate progress in these areas, Malaysia Dementia Network is paving the way through four core objectives:

1. Build an interdisciplinary dementia research network through a hybrid seminar in Kuala Lumpur,

2. Listen to lived experiences through a qualitative study with people living with dementia (PwD) and their families from Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indigenous communities in both urban (Klang Valley) and rural (Sabah) settings.

3. Set national research priorities for dementia prevention and timely diagnosis through a hybrid collaborative workshop with public involvement.

4. Create and launch an interactive website to share resources and evidence with stakeholders and the wider public.