Anidaso Parkinson's Disease Foundation (APDF) in partnership with Parkinson’s Africa (PA) will hold an awareness campaign on the Parkinson's Disease (PD) in Accra. 

The campaign which will be held from June 1 to June 3, 2022, is in collaboration with Colonel Guy Deacon, a retired British colonel, CBE, who was diagnosed with the disease for the past 11 years.

APDF and PA are two organisations with a common goal of improving the lives of Ghanaians affected by disease.

PD is the second most common neurological disorder in the world, and it is currently the fastest-growing, with cases across Africa expected to rise dramatically in the coming years.

It is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder that affects the part of the brain that controls movement and though formal prevalent studies have not been done, we know it forms 12 percent of diseases reported at the Neurology Clinics in our four major hospitals in Ghana. 

Many other functions, including mood, memory, cognition and sleep are also impacted. 

As the disease progresses, the affected person’s ability to move and function independently becomes severely impacted, rendering them partially or wholly reliant on family, relatives and caregivers.

Across the world, neurological disorders, like PD, are now the leading cause of disability. 

What this means is that as Parkinson’s cases continue to rise across Ghana, and Africa, so will the burden it bears on society as a whole.

Both Anidaso Parkinsons Disease Foundation and Parkinsons Africa are committed to reducing this burden by equipping Ghanaians affected by Parkinson’s disease with the tools and resources they need to make informed health decisions about the best management and treatment options, in order to live as well as possible with the disease.

We believe that the first step to doing this is raising the levels of awareness of PD in Ghana. 

In addition to utilising various media outlets to inform and educate the public about PD, the two organizations have teamed up with Guy Deacon, a former British army officer who has the disease.

On April 11, 2022 (known globally as World Parkinson’s Day), Guy embarked on a “Freetown to Cape Town” journey that started in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and will take him through Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Angola, Namibia and, ultimately, Cape Town, South Africa. 

He will meet with people with Parkinson’s, neurologists and health leaders in each of these countries. 

He will also visit some Parkinson’s projects that are growing across the continent.

He is keen on meeting the relevant stakeholders who help shape policies that affect these patients and to help Parkinson’s disease organizations and groups to map out  how they can engage policy makers in the interest of the patients

Guy Deacon will be creating a documentary, following his travels, to portray the difficult realities of living with Parkinson’s in both the UK and Africa, and to highlight the work being done by organisations such as APDF and PA. 

He is currently in Liberia, and we expect him to arrive at Ghanaian’s borders in the last week of May 2022. 

We are actively trying to create solutions that will remove some of the heavy burdens that Ghanaian families and communities affected by PD face, but we cannot do it on our own. We need as much support as we can get. 

We have plans to utilise the opportunity of Col. Deacon’s trip to Ghana to significantly raise the levels of awareness of PD in Ghana; and, to raise the profiles of APDF and PA  to enable people who could benefit from both organisations’ services will know how to find them.

Anidaso Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (APDF)

The Anidaso Parkinson’s Disease Foundation is a non-government and not-for-profit organisation which was set up to support and enhance the lives of people living with Parkinson's, their care partners, and their families to achieve their highest possible quality of life through compassion.

 Its focus is to provide information, inspiration, and tools to help people with Parkinson's live better every day. 

The APDF is the first and only Foundation for Parkinson patients in Ghana and has priority goals being directing and leading research into the disease, training of clinicians with relevant knowledge to detect and treat appropriately the disease, and engagement with policy makers to make relevant impact in patient lives in terms of medication, education and support for patients and caregivers.

 Parkinsons Africa

Parkinson’s Africa is an Incorporated Trustee and a registered charity in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, respectively. Founded by an African (Nigerian) living with PD, PA was established with first-hand knowledge of some of the significant challenges and vulnerabilities that an African diagnosed with this disease is exposed to. 

As a result, PA is committed to supporting and empowering Africans impacted by PD. Its mission is to reduce the shame and stigma surrounding PD by providing education and information about the disease; and to equip those affected with the support and healthcare resources needed to live informed, empowered and dignified lives.