When the World Health Assembly convenes for its 78th meeting in May 2025, they will make a crucial decision on whether to extend the Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia, due to expire this year. ADI is leading the call for a vital 6-year extension, to 2031. It is in this context that ADI is launching this edition of From Plan to Impact, with an urgent call to action from global dementia experts and government members from around the world.
In 2017, all 194 WHO Member States unanimously adopted the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia. Despite the initial flush of optimism, eight years later only 45 national dementia plans exist globally. And the global challenge of dementia only continues to grow. There are currently more than 55 million people living with dementia, a figure set to almost triple by 2050. Dementia is also forecast to be the 3rd leading cause of death globally by 2040.
ADI calls on Member States to reaffirm their commitment to the global action plan at this pivotal moment, to ensure that dementia remains an international health and care priority.
In the report, ADI CEO, Paola Barbarino comments on the crucial timing of this year’s ‘From Plan to Impact’:
For the past 18 months, ADI has worked energetically to ensure that the WHO’s Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025 is renewed. In January 2025, 22 governments backed our plea to extend the plan until 2031 – but since then, uncertainty has reigned over whether this will go through. The Global action plan – which was the focus of the From Plan to Impact report and, more critically, of ADI’s work long before it was approved eight years ago – is at risk. This report will be released only a few days before the vote.
Since 2018, Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) has published its yearly From Plan to Impact report taking stock of the progress made by member states and highlighting best practices meeting the targets set by the Global action plan. This year’s report will reflect on progress, barriers, and call for solutions and renewed momentum.
The seven chapters of the report address the seven action areas of the Global action plan: dementia as a public health priority; awareness and friendliness; risk reduction; diagnosis, treatment, care, and support; support for dementia carers; information systems; and research and innovation.
Some of the key points of the report include:
- The number of national dementia plans (NDPs) implemented by WHO member states has risen since 2024 from 39 to 45. This equates to 30.8 percent of the 146 target, and only 23.2 percent of all 194 member states who agreed to implement plans in 2017.
- As of May 2025, 53 countries or territories (including non-WHO member states) had NDPs.
- Dementia plans across WHO member states include 21 in Europe, nine in the Americas, nine in the Western Pacific, four in the Eastern Mediterranean, two in Southeast Asia, and none in Africa.
- Twenty-one countries and territories are currently developing an NDP or are integrating dementia within a wider health plan, including 19 WHO member states.
- The Global action on the public health response to dementia has been an essential tool to advance dementia policy globally. Its impact at the international, national, and local levels cannot be understated, providing countries with a framework to build comprehensive dementia plans that address the multifaceted challenges inherent to this condition.
- Dementia is already a pressing public health concern and is set to become a full-blown global health crisis in the decades to come. The numbers paint a stark picture but need to be repeated. Dementia is the seventh leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death in many countries.
- According to the WHO, the number of people living with dementia is expected to rise from 55 million in 2019 to 139 million in 2050.
- The skyrocketing number of cases is predicted to lead to related annual costs rising from US$1.3 trillion in 2019 to $2.8 trillion by 2030, five short years from now. These worrying projections can be mitigated, but only through concerted, far-reaching efforts at every level