The World Health Organization (WHO) released “A Blueprint for Dementia Research,” which identifies gaps in dementia research and sets time-bound goals to tackle the disease.
“Although dementia is the 7th leading cause of death globally, dementia research accounts for less than 1.5 percent of total health research output,” Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, said in a release. “Addressing dementia comprehensively requires research and innovation to be an integral part of the response.”
In early 2022, WHO pushed the deadline to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease from 2025 to 2030, after finding that most countries were behind in reaching the adopted targets outlined in the “Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017–2025,” released in 2017.
The blueprint for dementia research is the first WHO initiative of its kind for noncommunicable diseases and summarizes the current state of dementia research, identifies existing knowledge gaps, and outlines 15 strategic goals with actions and timebound milestones to address them.
For more information, visit who.int.
