The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Calls for Six Key Actions to Drive Early Detection and Preventio

Michael Ellenbogen

I was at this meeting and we can all thank USAgainstAlzheimers for this. They are the out of box thinkers that made this all happen. 

The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative Calls for Six Key Actions to Drive Early Detection and Prevention of Alzheimer's

 

In the face of the megatrend of aging populations, healthcare systems around the globe must detect and prevent Alzheimer’s while continuing to treat the disease in its later stages. Through scientific discovery and research, we have learned how to mitigate risk factors of the disease as well as the importance of treating the disease in its early stages. By focusing on early diagnosis and “shifting left,” we can improve patients’ lives, reduce caregiver burden, and bring down dementia’s crushing costs. However, several worldwide challenges still stand in the way.

At the inaugural meeting of the DAC Learning Laboratory’s stakeholders from high, medium, and low resource settings — and across all sectors — came together to engage with, inform, and learn from shared projects across the Alzheimer's landscape with a mission of driving early detection and prevention of the disease. To that end, representatives from all sectors must work together to share successes and challenges from program research and implementation to identify, link and scale successful interventions across the global Alzheimer's ecosystem. 

Six Actions Are Essential To Drive Early Detection and Prevention Worldwide: 

 

1. Engage government leaders in the DAC Learning Laboratory. We need consistent engagement and collaboration with global policymakers to understand and address the challenges and opportunities for shifting the Alzheimer’s landscape. Government investment and participation in the DAC Learning Laboratory is imperative to incubate new initiatives, share learnings and resources, and scale existing best practices throughout national health systems across low, medium, and high-income settings.
 

2. Implement low-cost tools and protocols. It is crucial that solutions for early diagnosis and treatment be accessible to low- and middle-income countries, in addition to high-income settings. Health providers need to take advantage of affordable and scalable detection and care options, including blood biomarkers and digital tools that can improve diagnosis, treatment, and data collection.
 

3. Establish economic incentives for providers. We need to make healthcare more responsive to patients by aligning providers’ economic incentives with patient demands. This involves streamlining work for providers and ensuring that reimbursement models support regular screening and advanced diagnostics, including PET scans, fluid biomarker tests, and digital biomarker tools.
 

4. Build a global learning community. Although many challenges span the globe, solutions vary based on local environments. We need to assemble a broad base of partners who implement best practices that reflect needs on the ground. This learning community can build on each other’s successes by sharing tools and strategies, disseminating information, and collaborating to overcome common obstacles.
 

5. Speed the transfer of knowledge from academia to clinical practice. Scientific advances are often “locked away” in research settings, and global healthcare systems can remain decades behind current research. We need to make providers aware of the latest findings on emerging best practices and the biology of Alzheimer’s disease. To do this, we can promote information sharing across borders and between health systems while implementing continuing medical education that keeps practitioners up to date.
 

6. Build knowledge and overcome stigma. Too often, stigma means that brain health remains in the shadows and cognitive changes aren’t addressed until it’s too late. Providers and policymakers should educate the public on the importance of brain health screenings as part of regular care. Early, accurate, and compassionate diagnosis is not something to be feared.

The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) Learning Laboratory is a mechanism by which representatives across national public health organizations, policy, research, and industry, as well as high, medium, and low resource settings, can come together to share learnings from Alzheimer’s research initiatives aimed at common operational challenges in healthcare system preparedness. Through a series of convenings of the DAC Learning Laboratory, participants can engage with, inform, and learn from shared projects regarding how best to introduce new methods into their respective operational systems. The DAC Learning Laboratory convenings are a critical step toward realizing the objectives of the WHO Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia which aims to improve the lives of those directly impacted by dementia and reduce the strain of the disease on communities.

 

 

Hear the Expert Insights from the inaugural meeting of the
DAC Learning Laboratory

 

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Initiated in Davos, Switzerland, the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative is a global collaboration to align stakeholders with a new vision for a collective response against the challenges Alzheimer’s presents to patients, caregivers and healthcare systems. Led by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and The Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s Disease (CEOi) and fueled by a mission of service to the 150 million families and half a billion people inevitably impacted by this disease by 2050, DAC is a working for the benefit of all people, in all places.

ButterflyWings

This is huge. Thank you for sharing this, Michael. 

I pray that you are faring as well as possible. Your work is greatly appreciated. I only wish my DH did not have anosognosia, and could work alongside you and any other PWDs+allies able to fight back at this level, for the benefit of all.

Humbling. And very, very important proactive work to end Alzheimer's. Sincere thank you.

Michael Ellenbogen

You are so right about how big this is. I don’t think it gets bigger but I could be wrong. By these key leaders taking this on it will lead to changes all around the world. So many places are now taking this disease on and I believe the cure will come soon. 

While people think the new drug being approved was a bad thing it is leading to a good thing. This is getting many to respond much quicker because no one once to spend all of the money this will cost the government. I never thought it would help us that way but there is a lot of people more worried about the cost now. I always knew it would cost a lot. In fact I feel the costs was much lower than I would have thought it would be.  

Crushed

It is sad that you could put almost any chronic intractable disease in this structure.  ALS, MS, cystic fibrosis  could all be tackled the same way using the same language

But what I don't see is anything specific to Alzheimer's that will "Drive Early Detection and Prevention of Alzheimer's"

To do that you need a massive upgrade of the research process.  NOTHING ELSE WILL DO  

Knowledge transfer is not the problem Lack of knowledge is the problem
 
 
 I think we need to do good science on every single  promising therapeutic Heck Id support proper research on Lane's Ginseng if that is what it takes.  

Michael Ellenbogen

I have no idea what you are saying. Can you say it another way. Thanks

Crushed

Michael Ellenbogen wrote:

I have no idea what you are saying. Can you say it another way. Thanks

1 is  Make US (DAC) the center focus of attention

2,3,4, 5 and 6 are simply generic suggestions applicable to any chronic disease  
 
 take # 2 nothing specific to alzheimers

  Implement low-cost tools and protocols. It is crucial that solutions for early diagnosis and treatment be accessible to low- and middle-income countries, in addition to high-income settings. Health providers need to take advantage of affordable and scalable detection and care options, including blood biomarkers and digital tools that can improve diagnosis, treatment, and data collection. 

What does "early diagnosis and treatment " mean given the current state of Alzheirms knowledge?  

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/research_progress/earlier-diagnosis

 
 
  

Michael Ellenbogen

Thanks for the update.