When memory loss looks like witchcraft, why understanding dementia can save a life

Anderson Simfukwe was a headteacher in Nakonde when his own father started forgetting people he'd known for years, getting confused, wandering off. In many Zambian communities, that combination of symptoms gets one label attached to it fast. His father was accused of witchcraft. He wasn't practising anything supernatural. He had dementia.

His story isn't rare in Zambia, especially in rural areas. It is the reason he went on to found ADDIZ, an organisation working in Muchinga Province to change how communities actually understand this condition.

Dementia is not a single disease, it's a general term for memory and thinking decline serious enough to disrupt daily life, most often caused by Alzheimer's disease. It develops gradually. Memory loss, confusion, wandering, mood changes, all of it comes from real, physical changes in the brain. It is a medical condition. Not a curse. Not witchcraft.

The danger comes in when communities don't understand those symptoms. They often reach for the explanation that feels familiar instead of the one that's medically accurate. Wandering, incoherent speech, forgetting close relatives, sudden behaviour changes, all get read in some communities as signs of possession. In the most extreme cases documented in Zambia, elderly people accused of witchcraft because of undiagnosed dementia have faced mob violence, some nearly lynched.

It does not stop at violence. When a family believes confusion is spiritual, they seek spiritual help instead of medical care. Most people living with dementia in Zambia will never see a specialist in their entire journey with the condition. Add stigma on top of that gap, and families end up hiding a loved one's condition, elders get isolated by their own communities, and caregivers carry an enormous burden completely alone.

However, things are slowly changing. ADDIZ has run community awareness walks specifically to confront witchcraft accusations, with most participants pledging afterward to go teach others in their own communities. The Ministry of Health has reportedly agreed to fold dementia education into its health programmes, and Parliament has discussed legal protections for the elderly. Researchers are even training community health workers, trusted local figures, to screen for symptoms and spread accurate information where specialists simply aren't available.

This is not a distant issue. As Zambians live longer, more families could face this directly, in a parent, a grandparent, someone in the community. Knowing the real signs of dementia, instead of reaching for fear, can be the difference between a family getting help, and a community turning against someone who needs care, not condemnation.