MONITORING PROGRESS IN THE GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO THE DEMENTIA CRISIS

Abstract

The enormous burden posed by dementia on individuals and societies worldwide is expected to dramatically increase in the coming years. A comprehensive public health approach has been called for by WHO in 2012. More than 90 UN Member States are now involved in an unprecedented global response, which relies on the widely accepted stance that major advances in our understanding of dementia, its prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, and a significant reduction of its burden (including costs) can be achieved only through a concerted global effort. A Global Dementia Observatory (GDO) was developed by WHO in 2016, with assistance from the Geneva and other WHO collaborating centers (WHO CC). This surveillance platform was designed to collect data at the governance, population, and individual level to monitor progress in the global public health response to dementia. Member States took part to a formal consultation on the proposed structure of the GDO. Detailed feedback was given throughout 2016 by hundreds of national and international representatives and focal points. The relevance of the proposed indicators, and the feasibility and potential limitations of the data collection sources and systems envisaged for each of them were enquired about to identify existing data sources at the country level, and their potential use. The GDO has been successfully finalized by WHO and WHO CC, and it will align with the WHO Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia currently in preparation, as the key monitoring and knowledge echange platform to support evidence-based dementia service planning and strengthening of policies in health and social care systems for dementia. In the coming years comparable data at a country-level will become available through WHO to monitor dementia progress, favor knowledge translation and exchange, and the creating of country profiles on dementia readiness and progress.