Category Announcement

Making every step count

This is the sixth From Plan to Impact report, monitoring the progress of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025.

This report tracks the progress of creating and implementing National Dementia Plans (NDP) in both World Health Organization (WHO) Member States and select non-member states. Within this report, you can find expert analyses and case studies from across the globe, focusing on the seven action areas outlined in the Global Action Plan (GAP).

As in the previous editions, the sixth edition of From Plan to Impact highlights the persistent gap between Member States’ progress and the goals established by the plan. 

Some of the key points of the report include: 

• The number of NDPs implemented by Member States has remained unchanged since 2022 at 39. This equates to around 26% of the 146 target, and only around a fifth of all 194 Member States agreeing to implement a plan in 2017. As of May 2023, 46 countries or territories (including non-Member States) had NDPs
• 54 new plans are needed annually to reach the WHO target of 146 plans (75% of Member States) by 2025. This is based on data collected from Alzheimer and dementia associations between January and April 2023 and assumes no additional plans are launched this calendar year
• Data collection and harmonisation is becoming increasingly important as global projects seek to understand the life-course factors that impact dementia. We must ensure that data is collected from across the globe, across diverse populations, or we risk using biased data that may undermine scientific understanding or the development of appropriate healthcare approaches
• In the absence of national dementia plans or in areas where dementia diagnosis and care pathways are disjointed and unclear, it is the third sector (eg: civil society, non-governmental organisations, etc.) that has developed innovative projects or services to plug key gaps through public-private partnerships
• Despite a decreasing emphasis on the COVID-19 pandemic globally, ADI continues its extensive efforts to influence plans for the future WHO Pandemic Preparedness and Response Treaty. The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on people living with dementia should never be repeated, and governments must include humanitarian and pandemic response planning in their NDPs, as suggested in the Global Action Plan

Though progress on the GAP has been slow, ADI’s successful #WhatsYourPlan campaign demonstrates that collaborative efforts between governments and stakeholders can make a tangible impact on policy development and implementation of NDPs. The fight for a better world for people living with dementia is ongoing, and it is crucial to utilise all available means to transform this vision into reality. 

As such, ADI is calling for an urgent extension of the Global Action Plan until 2029 with current progress putting people living with dementia and their caregivers are at a severe disadvantage. This extension will provide a crucial opportunity to address the unmet needs and challenges faced by individuals living with dementia, ensuring their well-being and improving their quality of life.

With only a fifth of WHO Member States meeting their commitments to the Global Action Plan on dementia, urgent action is needed to address the escalating global dementia crisis.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Action Plan on dementia is failing to meet its targets, putting people living with dementia and their carers at a disadvantage.  

With only 20% of WHO Member States having fulfilled their promise to create a National Dementia Plan (NDP) by 2025, ADI is calling for an extension to the Global Action Plan on the public health response to dementia at the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, ahead of the release of From Plan to Impact VI, which maps progress against the Global Action Plan.

The prevalence of dementia is rapidly increasing, with an estimated 55 million people currently affected, and up to 85% not receiving necessary treatment and support. The lack of progress in implementing NDPs is concerning, as it raises doubts about the accessibility of future dementia therapies and more.  Projections suggest that the number of people with dementia will reach 139 million by 2050, emphasising the urgent need for immediate action to address this global public health threat.

Following the launch of the #WhatsYourPlan campaign in November 2021, ADI examines the campaign’s successes in its first year.

In 2017, all 194 Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) unanimously adopted the Global Action Plan on the public health response to dementia, with a primary aim for countries to adopt and implement National Dementia Plans (NDP).

However, as outlined in the most recent From Plan to Impact report, Member States have been far too slow to act, with only around a third of countries having implemented a NDP – falling far short of the 75% target by 2025. In response, ADI launched the direct action #WhatsYourPlan campaign in November 2021, in collaboration with ADI members, with the single minded aim of galvanising governments to act on their 2017 commitment.

In the past year of the #WhatsYourPlan campaign, ADI is pleased to share that there has been considerable progress in expediting progress towards the targets of the WHO Global Action Plan. Since the launch of the campaign, 20 additional countries have committed to developing an NDP, over half of the number already in existence.

This comes following the deployment of over 200 official correspondences to members of government, across 52 participating countries, resulting in 29 ministerial meetings.

ADI CEO Paola Barbarino said: “I am incredibly proud of what ADI and our member associations have achieved over the last year with the #WhatsYourPlan campaign.”

Twenty commitments to develop new National Dementia Plans is a widely promising step in the direction towards the targets of the WHO Global Action Plan. However, the reality is we will need to redouble our efforts in 2023 to bridge the gap in national plans, as we approach the final two years, to the 2025 target date, more than 150 countries are still to develop their plans.

One of the first successes of the campaign was the unanimous decision of the Brazilian Senate to pass a National Law of Care for those living with dementia on 16 November 2022, a monumental step which brings the country closer to developing and adopting a National Dementia Plan.

A joint letter by ADI and Federação Brasileira das Associações de Alzheimer (FEBRAZ) was sent to all members of the Senate ahead of the meeting, with its contents forming part of the debate.

On the decision by the Senate, Elaine Mateus, President of FEBRAZ said:

The #WhatsYourPlan campaign helped us speed up the progress of the National Dementia Plan in Brazil and aided in the Senate’s unanimous decision to pass the National Law of Care for people living with dementia, which is now being discussed and improved at the Chamber of Deputies. FEBRAZ and ADI will keep working together to accelerate the definite approval of the bill and its funding.

We are expecting National Dementia Plans to launch in Armenia, Malaysia and Uruguay in early 2023, and we will monitor encouraging progress in Bonaire, Brazil, Cost Rica, Dominica, Iran, Kenya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Ukraine.

A crucial aspect of the campaign has been the engagement with key stakeholders across the world, bringing expertise and motivation to the table. At a global and regional level, ADI is working closely with WHO offices and in 2023, will focus attention on how to further provide technical support, as we push for the prioritisation of National Dementia Plan development.

Chris Lynch, ADI Deputy CEO who is leading on the campaign, said:

The combination of direct action and collaboration is key to our engagement with governments. The next step is to galvanise the voices of the public and all of those people affected by dementia, to add weight to the campaign and to demand of their governments #WhatsYourPlan.

Early in 2023, ADI alongside its member associations will add the voice of people affected by dementia in a regional awareness raising campaign in the Caribbean. Multiple countries and states will join forces to amplify the call for their governments to develop, launch and deploy National Dementia Plans. As we rapidly approach the 2025 deadline, we will continue to ask: #WhatsYourPlan?