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A Call to Action: The Global Response to Dementia Through Policy Innovation
2015

A Call to Action: The Global Response to Dementia Through Policy Innovation

Ellis Rubinstein Cynthia Duggan Brett Van Landingham Didi Thompson Will Warburton

The Global Response to Dementia Through Policy Innovation The report focuses on the subject of dementia and the increasing need to contain this emergent threat on a global scale. It highlights solutions that have already been proposed and initiates viable recommendations that can possibly improve patient care and prevent others from reaching to the point of severity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in 2010 35.6 million people globally had dementia and this number is expected to almost double every 20 years. The very oldest members of society and countries where life expectancy is increasing most rapidly will be most affected by this growth. The costs of providing dementia care are substantial (and unsustainable) and a reliance on informal care in both high and low and middle income countries predominates. The G8 recently met in London to acknowledge the increasing burden of dementia and to call for a unified international approach to support global dementia innovation. They confirmed an ambition to identify a cure or disease modifying therapy by 2025 and committed to collectively increasing funding of dementia research in order to reach that goal. Dementia is a global priority and there is an increasing and urgent need to identify and disseminate innovative and cost-effective approaches for diagnosis and management. The Forum on dementia will focus on post-diagnostic support and treatment and examine innovative systemic, staffing and funding solutions to providing better care.

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Ellis Rubinstein

Ellis Rubinstein is an innovator and change agent. Since joining the New York Academy of Sciences in November 2002, Mr. Rubinstein has increased membership to more than 22,000 scientists in 100 countries. The President’s Council that he created includes 27 Nobel Laureates and a score of CEOs and government leaders from across the globe. Mr Rubinstein played an instrumental role in the creation of the Academy’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Initiative, which works with partners around the world to accelerate the transfer of basic research about disease mechanisms into the development of new methods for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Before joining the Academy, Mr Rubinstein pursued a distinguished career as a science journalist, serving as Editor of Science magazine between 1993 and 2002. Prior to this he occupied several other senior editorial positions at major publications. He is the recipient of three National Magazine Awards. Mr Rubinstein was a member of the World Economic Forum for six years, and currently participates in the Council of Japan’s Science and Technology in Society Forum among many other activities. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, he also holds honorary degrees from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Hallym University in South Korea.

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