On 16 and 17 March 2015, WHO hosted in Geneva its first Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia. 80 countries joined experts from the research, clinical and advocacy communities to discuss how, collectively, they could move forward action on dementia at the global level.

Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) and other organizations attending the Ministerial Conference delivered a statement calling to:

• Ensure that people with dementia and their families are put at the centre of all policies.
• Implement and take the necessary steps towards the ambition to identify a cure or a disease-modifying therapy for dementia by 2025, as adopted by the G8 Summit in December 2013, and to increase collectively and significantly the amount of funding for dementia research to reach that goal. We suggest that every country should increase their public research budget to 1% of the amount the country spends on dementia care.
• Increase efforts in other areas of research, such as research into effective care models; prevalence, incidence and mortality, prevention and risk reduction to a comparable level, and increase the focus on translating research into practice.
• Recognise the value of civil society organisations including Alzheimer associations and Alzheimer research foundations as key advocates for improvements in dementia care and policies and support these organisations. This should include a role for people who are living with dementia.
• Create and fund a dementia work stream for lower and middle-income countries and develop programmes to raise awareness and improve health system response with the inclusion of partners from those countries.
• Facilitate further collaboration on the exchange of best practices in dementia care and creating dementia friendly communities.
• Make risk reduction for dementia a priority and link actions, including setting of some targets and indicators, to the general work steam on non-communicable diseases that is led by the World Health Organization.

Read the full statement here

The Conference was supported by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The UK and Northern Ireland announced that over US$ 100 million will be invested in a pioneering new global Dementia Discovery Fund. Read WHO press release "Governments commit to advancements in dementia research and care" here.

Read more about the first Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia