In May 2017, the Seventieth World Health Assembly endorsed the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025. The goal of the action plan is to improve the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families, while decreasing the impact of dementia on them as well as on communities and countries. Currently, more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide; over 60% of whom live in low- and middle income countries. Every year, there are nearly 10 million new cases. The action plan includes seven strategic action areas, including one on dementia risk reduction.
As there is no cure for dementia currently, , risk reduction for dementia remains critically important. The existence of potentially modifiable risk factors means that prevention of dementia is potentially possible by implementing a set of key interventions. This would, in turn, offer opportunities to influence future dementia incidence. To this end, WHO released guidelines for risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia in 2019. The guidelines provide health care providers as well as governments, policy-makers and other stakeholders with evidence-based recommendations on health behaviours and interventions to delay or prevent cognitive decline and dementia.
Since the initial release of the guidelines, the field has evolved significantly, with more evidence now being available. In line with WHO standard procedure, the Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use has started the process of updating the guidelines for risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia with the advice of a Guideline Development Group (GDG).
As part of this process, the following experts are being proposed to join the GDG for updating the guidelines for risk reduction of cognitive decline and dementia based on their technical expertise, diverse perspectives, demographic background, lived experience and geographic representation.