October was a busy month for ADI as our team engaged in critical discussions and events across Europe. From the Lausanne XI Dialogues, focusing on innovative strategies for Alzheimer’s disease, to the G7 Health Ministers meeting in Ancona, Italy, which emphasised global collaboration, ADI’s presence underscored the critical need to address dementia as a public health priority. Here’s a roundup of the key activities from the European region this month.
Lausanne XI Dialogues
At the beginning of October, ADI staff attended the Lausanne XI dialogues – a forum which brings together policymakers, researchers, clinicians, and the private sector for a series of discussions surrounding how to best innovate Alzheimer’s prevention, treatment, and care.
As co-host of the event, along with CEOi – Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease, OECD-OCDE, and World Economic Forum, ADI CEO Paola Barbarino opened the second day of the dialogues with an address that highlighted the vital importance of assuring affordability for new Alzheimer’s disease treatments:
If treatments are priced beyond the reach of health systems, or are unobtainable in low-and-middle income countries due to cost considerations, they risk not reaching those who need them most.
ADI Deputy CEO Chris Lynch joined an expert panel discussing ‘Data in Action: Building Platforms for Real-World Evidence Generation’. During the discussion, Chris highlighted the need for a timely focus on registries and real-world evidence, as well as empowering those living with Alzheimer’s disease to have direct access to their own data. Allowing individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease to access their own records in registries could help revolutionise their own navigation of risk reduction strategies.
ADI’s Director of Research and Publications, Wendy Weidner chaired a discussion in Lausanne, titled ‘Preventative Power: Promoting Brain Health to Address the Alzheimer’s Crisis’. Presenting a recent insight from ADI’s global survey on attitudes to dementia, that over a quarter of people globally incorrectly believe that there is nothing we can do to prevent dementia, to frame the panel discussion around the challenge of ongoing dementia stigma to prevention strategies.
G7 in Ancona, Italy
The G7 Health Minister’s meeting was held in Ancona, Italy in October with ADI Deputy CEO Chris Lynch in attendance. G7 Ministers, along with the European Union, representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and guest countries including Albania,Brazil, India, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia discussed ageing and lifelong prevention.
The side meeting, ‘Advancing Global Collaboration on Alzheimer’s Disease, Brain Health, and Healthy Aging’ aimed to galvanize the G7 countries to maintain momentum from Japan’s 2023 presidency of the G7 , and return governments to their commitments stretching back to 2013, when the then-G8 countries made dementia a health priority.
At the conclusion of the meeting, there was a unified call for integrated and innovative global solutions to dementia, especially health system readiness, underpinned by ADI’s own persistent work in calling for the extension of the WHO’s Global Action Plan on the public health response to dementia which is due to expire in 2025. We were pleased and reassured to see the WHO Global Action Plan featured prominently within the 2024 G7 Health Ministers Communiqué, with a focus on care and support, alongside treatment and diagnosis.
This important commitment in Ancona builds on the Nagasaki communiqué 2023, and has been a focus of ADI’s advocacy work over the last year, underpinned by our additional work with the C7, the global collective of non-governmental organisations seeking to influence the G7 process.
This bodes well for ADI’s ongoing calls to WHO Member States to request a 10-year extension to the Global Action Plan on dementia, so that we can continue to ensure dementia remains a public health priority to improve the lives of those living with dementia and carers globally.
Alzheimer Europe Conference
ADI’s Head of Policy and Communications, Lewis Arthurton, and Membership Manager, Gloria Mantineo, attended the 2024 Alzheimer Europe Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Alongside joining talks and discussions on the latest developments in research and innovation in Europe. ADI was also able to connect with our member associations and partners in the region, as well as deliver talks on ADI’s ongoing international work.
Lewis also joined the Meeting of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in Official Relations with the WHO working on Mental, Neurological and Substance Use (MNS) conditions to highlight ADI’s ongoing engagement with the WHO, focusing on our recent collaborative World Alzheimer’s Month campaign with the PAHO-WHO, as well as our statements at Executive Board, World Health Assembly and regional committees as well as meetings with Ministers, and ongoing side events.
On the final day of the conference, Lewis joined a series of oral presentations focusing on the subject of ‘living with dementia’ to showcase the latest findings in our ‘World Alzheimer Report 2024: Global changes in attitudes to dementia’.
CROCAD-24
In October, CEO Paola Barbarino attended the Croatian Congress on Alzheimer’s Disease with International Participation, CROCAD-24, in Vodice, Croatia. Congress organisers invited numerous national and international speakers to the 2024 event, in order to present the latest scientific knowledge in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, with special attention paid to issues surrounding caregivers and care for people living with dementia.
Paola gave a presentation at the event titled ‘Dementia: A National and Global Priority’, and then chaired a 2-hour panel discussion, ‘Action plan for Care of Persons with Dementia: Where We Are Now?’. Croatia began working on a national plan earlier this year.
Another speaker of note was Osman Kukuk, of Alzheimer Udruženje AiR – Alzheimer BiH, ADI’s member association for Bosnia Herzogvinia, who gave an impassioned speech on the progress towards a dementia plan in Bosnia Herzegovina.
October was marked by ADI’s active involvement in various conferences and events across Europe. We are thrilled with the strong representation from our team and look forward to continuing our efforts and further action in the region.