Latvia

Under national clinical guidelines, GPs utilise standardised instruments including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), or combination screenings such as the 5-Word Recall Test and the Clock Drawing Test.

Structural neuroimaging is available and integrated into Latvia’s care pathway. Computed Tomography (CT) scans are routinely performed across regional hospitals to rule out vascular pathology, structural space-occupying lesions, or normal pressure hydrocephalus. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the preferred modality for evaluating hippocampal volume loss and medial temporal lobe atrophy characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease, with GPs and specialists able to order brain MRI within the diagnostic pathway.

There is no evidence of genetic testing for Alzheimer’s disease availability within the standard clinical care in Latvia.

In Latvia, standard clinical practice does not include routine biomarker evaluation for Alzheimer’s disease, as its application is limited to academic research.

Latvia currently has no state-funded network of specialised memory clinics, neurological dementia day hospitals or gerontopsychiatric clinics. This is stated explicitly in Latvia’s official 2025 clinical algorithm for dementia assessment and diagnosis: the specialised neurological day hospital and gerontopsychiatric clinic envisaged in the care pathway have not yet been established or included in the state-funded system. In practice, people with suspected or diagnosed dementia are assessed by neurologists or psychiatrists in outpatient services, with hospital neurology or psychiatry departments managing cases where necessary.

Latvia provides home care, day-care, respite and long-term social care through municipal social-service systems, but provision specifically designed for dementia is uneven. National legislation requires social care to be available according to assessed needs, including care at home and day-care services, but individual municipalities organise much of the provision. Riga specifically provides day-care services for people with dementia and has expanded eligibility to people with mild or moderate cognitive impairment, whereas comparable dementia-specific services are not consistently documented across all municipalities.

Latvia has strengthened palliative care through a state-funded system that includes hospital care and multidisciplinary mobile palliative-care teams providing care at home. Under the national Palliative Care Regulations, eligible adults with an expected survival of up to six months can receive home-based services that combine medical care with social care, technical aids and psychosocial support, following assessment by a hospital medical council. Palliative care is not restricted to cancer in the legislation, so a person with advanced dementia may qualify on the basis of palliative-care need and prognosis, although there is no separate dementia-specific palliative-care network.

Alzheimer’s treatment is financed mainly by the state through the National Health Service (Nacionālais veselības dienests, NVD), but it is not entirely free at the point of use. State-funded GP, specialist, diagnostic and other covered healthcare services generally involve fixed patient copayments—for example, €1–€2 for a GP visit (depending on age) and €4 for a specialist visit. These healthcare-service copayments are capped at €570 per calendar year, after which the patient can obtain exemption from further qualifying copayments; certain population groups are exempt altogether.

All medicines in Latvia are reimbursed according to the diagnosis and reimbursement category, generally at 100%, 75%, or 50% of the reimbursement/reference price; where reimbursement is less than 100%, or where a more expensive non-reference medicine is chosen, the patient/family pays the remaining amount.

In Latvia, there is no national financial benefit specifically for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Latvia’s financial support is primarily linked to the care recipient’s formally assessed disability and dependency rather than to Alzheimer’s disease itself. The Ministry of Welfare provides disability-related allowances and publicly funded assistant services for eligible people with disabilities. Assistants are remunerated for the service they provide; in 2026, government funding provides hourly compensation generally around €5.72 – €6.03, depending on the month. However, this is not an Alzheimer’s disease-specific caregiver allowance.

State-funded healthcare at home is available to people with chronic illnesses who have mobility limitations and cannot attend a healthcare facility, subject to medical eligibility. This can be continued beyond the initial 30-day period where a family doctor determines that home healthcare remains necessary. Eligibility is based on health and functional needs rather than specifically on Alzheimer’s disease.

JADE Health (Joint Action addressing Dementia and Health) is a large EU-funded collaboration designed to improve how European health systems prevent, detect, treat and care for dementia and other neurological disorders. It runs from January 2025 to December 2027 under the EU4Health programme. Latvia participates through the Riga Stradiņš University Institute of Public Health as the lead Latvian partner and Riga East University Hospital (RAKUS) as an associated partner. Total project funding is €5.625 million, with approximately €114,018 allocated to Latvia. The project focuses on several connected areas: improving public understanding and health literacy around dementia; encouraging prevention and healthier behaviours; developing earlier detection and screening, particularly for people at higher risk; improving support and care for people living with dementia and other neurological conditions; and educating healthcare professionals, caregivers and families.