VICTORIA — Advocates for the elderly say Canada urgently needs a national strategy on Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias.

"That magic bullet that can prevent Alzheimer's Disease or any of the related dementias does not does not exist," Steve Rudin of the Alzheimer Society of Canada said at a conference on aging held in Victoria.

"We must have a comprehensive strategy that embraces the highest quality research . . . and improvements in the public policy arena that will provide health and support."

Rudin predicted Canada is headed for a crisis if the health-care system does not prepare for the mounting number of Alzheimer cases as the population ages, Rudin said.

Thirty recommendations have been made in a position paper from the National Advisory Council on Aging and the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

They include an increased research into the causes, prevention and treatment of progressive cognitive impairment, improved physician training, assured equal access to treatments and pharmaceuticals, more government funding for long term care facilities, income protection and other public policies that support care givers, and increased funding for home care.

Advocates say they want the national policy hammered out by 2006, which marks the 100th anniversary of the naming of the disease by Dr. Alois Alzheimer.

The co-ordinated and comprehensive approach would require the co-operation of the federal government the provinces and territories.

It is estimated the direct annual costs of Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias is about $5.5 billion. By next year about 420,000 Canadians over the age of 65 will be afflicted.