World Economic Forum

On Tuesday, January 16th, the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative held a roundtable that brought together government, industry, academia, and civil society alongside the WEF Annual Meeting 2024.

This roundtable initiated the creation of a new network of Brain Health Ambassadors who committed to promoting the inclusion of brain health at the primary care level and the prevention of Alzheimer’s and related dementias, globally.

The session made the case for brain health and healthy aging as an economic imperative and necessary precursor to UHC, built consensus on the urgent need for sustained global collaboration and stronger global architecture to enable brain health as a critical component of healthy aging, supported the realization of national plans on dementia and coordination and knowledge-sharing at the global level, and highlighted the importance of global collaboration and health systems strengthening to ensure healthy populations in every resource setting.

Co-chair: Dr. Victor Dzau

President, US National Academy of Medicine, Board Member, Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative

Key Insights from DAC’s Brain Health Roundtable:

DAC’s Actions to Advance Progress

Insight 1: Lifestyle Modifications and Risk Reductions Support Brain Health

Longstanding research by DAC partner Worldwide FINGERS, led by Professor Miia Kivipelto out of the Karolinska Institute, on the influence of risk reduction measures and lifestyle modifications has confirmed clear steps to protect and promote brain health. The five FINGERS – risk-reduction lifestyle interventions – have been proven to prevent dementia and cognitive decline. The five interventions are nutrition, physical exercise, cognitive training, social activities, and management of vascular and metabolic risk factors. These steps are also beneficial to cardiovascular health.

DAC’s Action: Creating Collaborations to Scale Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Longitudinal and Clinical Trial Research Globally

• Provided multi-year funding to Worldwide FINGERS to adapt and customize their risk reduction protocol in over 60 countries.

• Committed nearly $2M to research organizations around the world relying on milestone-based and performance agreements to ensure effectiveness.

• Funded efforts in over 30 countries to add leverage and speed to our work.

• Completed 7 “flagship programs” (US, Japan, Mexico, UK, Brazil and Jamaica)

Insight 2: Accurate Brain Health Messaging Supports Informed Care

Brain health needs accurate messaging to be adopted and interwoven into public health initiatives to improve the capacity of health systems to enable brain health at population level. Communication efforts must emphasize the “plasticity” of the brain, reminding individuals that they have the power to change their brains just as they have the power to change their bodies. Brain health also includes concepts related to “cognitive reserve” or the idea that established neural networks offer the possibility for prevention of cognitive decline if a neurodegenerative disease is present. Informed health systems and an educated public create the conditions for positive action on brain health promotion and protection.

DAC’s Action: Equipping Healthcare Systems and the Front Lines of Care to Improve Access to Treatments

• Created a system fellowship program, with the intent of funding up to 10 US system fellowships, to allow healthcare systems to work with us to build capacity for brain health and Alzheimer’s care delivery. We intend to add another 10 systems in the UK in 2025.

• Supported the development and delivery of one global Blueprint (DAC-SP Early Detection Blueprint) and two US toolkits (AAPA/Cleveland Clinic, Cognition in Primary Care) to increase detection of cognitive impairment and inform guideline development.

• Completed the first two phases of a long-term partnership with Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya that is validating cognitive tests, saliva based polygenic risk scores and novel digital cognitive assessments in local East African population with the goal of creating a clinical trial ready cohort for testing pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.

Insight 3: Cross-Sector Coordination Enables Action on Brain Health

Implementing the initiatives necessary to transform brain health globally remains a complex challenge. This effort requires action to increase knowledge about brain health, reduce myths about aging, and equip people inside and outside health systems with the skills to manage brain health. This can only be achieved at scale with unprecedented coordination amongst primary care providers, community healthcare workers, multi-sectoral partnerships, and global commitments at the highest level. DAC seeks to be the mechanism that coordinates these parties.

DAC’s Action: Engaging Governments to Drive Forward National and International Commitments and Make Progress towards Universal Health Coverage

• Secured favorable language in the United States Senate to lay the foundation for a USAID global fund for Alzheimer’s to support DAC’s growth.

• Worked closely with Japan’s Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor (MHLW) and other G7 countries to create a focus on Alzheimer’s during the 2023 G7 proceedings.

• Built and maintaining a robust pipeline of committed cohorts with detailed proposals MOUs, ranging from Colombia to Tanzania to rural Texas, to test and validate early cognitive impairment detection technologies with a focus on remote, underserved areas to find tools that can more easily scale globally.

Email Drew Holzapfel to learn more about the Roundtable and Brain Health Ambassadors.