In February of this year, congressional leaders introduced the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Reauthorization Act to the Senate.
The original BOLD Act, set to expire this year, most recently passed in 2018 and "directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to strengthen the public health infrastructure across the country by implementing effective Alzheimer's interventions focused on public health issues such as increasing early detection and diagnosis, reducing risk, and supporting the needs of caregivers." The reauthorization of this Act is intended to empower public health departments to continue improving brain health across the life course and supporting caregivers in their communities. The passing of this Act would mean an additional $34 million in funding to support this cause.
In addition to advocating for additional funding, this amendment would also direct that funding to be used for "identifying and translating findings from clinical trials and other studies on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, including studies on risk reduction, for application and integration into effective and sustained community-level evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies."
In March, this Act passed in the Senate and, as of today, has yet to be passed by the House and signed into law.
Caregivers and people living with dementia deserve quality research and support. If you would like to see BOLD reauthorized and signed into law, remember that you can always call your representatives to encourage them to follow through on this important work.
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