Brain Health is a Challenge That Needs Global Collaboration In Focus 23/01/2025 • Elaine Ruth Fletcher Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) At Davos Brain Health forum, from left: WHO’s Catharina Boehme, Patrick J. Kennedy, Shelley Lyford Sandy Torchia and Jon Clifton. DAVOS, Switzerland – While the United States decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization has thrown the world of global health into turmoil, former US Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy remains hopeful that a “more thoughtful” conversation can be held with the new US Administration of President Donald Trump once the political dust has settled. Kennedy, a cousin of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), also believes that common ground on new and emerging health issues, such as mental health and healthy ageing, can be found with the new administration in Washington DC – particularly if his cousin is confirmed for the position. “Decisions being made at the beginning of this administration are very reactive and political in nature,” Kennedy told Health Policy Watch on the sidelines of an event on Brain Health hosted by the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative at the World Economic Forum (WEF). “They don’t reflect the kind of thoughtful decision-making we’re going to need to move forward not only for the United States but also for the world,” he said. Exclusive | @PJK4brainhealth: “Decisions being made at the beginning of this administration are very reactive and very political in nature.” Read related: https://t.co/ys72vZ63cj pic.twitter.com/OFQluQdveL — Health Policy Watch – Global Health News Reporting (@HealthPolicyW) January 21, 2025 “So I hope that in the future we’ll be able to revisit these questions and have a thoughtful conversation about the importance of multilateral organizations – including the WHO.” Kennedy appeared at the DAC event just hours after the bombshell announcement of Trump’s decision on Monday, just after his inauguration. The US is currently WHO’s biggest contributor, providing roughly 20% of its funding in the 2022-23 budget biennium. See related story: Trump May Face Lawsuit Over US Withdrawal from WHO But Kennedy said he still had “great hopes” for what his cousin, RFK Jr might be able to do as Secretary of HHS, should his appointment be confirmed by the US Congress – despite his deep disagreement with Trump’s decision to withdraw from WHO, as well as the controversies surrounding RFK Jr’s positions on vaccines. ‘Not going to argue the vaccine issue, but.. ‘ “I’m not going to argue the vaccine issue,” said Kennedy, the youngest son of the late Edward Kennedy, brother of the late Senator Robert F Kennedy, RFK Jr’s father, who was assassinated in 1968. “I would have preferred the other side win,” added Kennedy, a former US Congressman from Rhode Island who publicly endorsed Joe Biden for a second term as US President. “But we cannot retreat. We have to engage with the new administration and try to do positive things where they are willing to go in positive directions,” he said. Within that context, he believes his now famous cousin, “Bobby” could be part of the solution: “I believe he can go in positive directions on these big issues of mental illness, and addiction.” He noted that they had shared a similar journey from substance abuse and addiction to the pursuit of better mental health and a healthy lifestyle. ‘Bobby and I are both in recovery together,” said Kennedy, co-founder of The Kennedy Forum, a non-profit organization advocating for policies on mental health, addiction and substance use disorders. “He’s a big supporter of all the things that have worked for me, including in my case, medication assisted treatment…. One of his concepts is to build community. So I appreciate his vision.” Brain health, a lifecycle approach George Vrandenburg, founder of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. Kennedy was appearing at a DAC session on a “Lifespan Approach” to brain health on the sidelines of the 2025 WEF. Increasingly, Alzheimer’s advocates are recognizing that much more attention needs to be focused on preventing the disease, which is the underlying factor in an estimated 60-80% of dementia, said DAC founder George Vrandenburg, in opening remarks that set the tone for a three-day series of events. That means taking a more holistic view of “brain health” which also involves considering social and environmental brain “risks” and benefits, from poverty alleviation to healthier lifestyles, diets and environment, added Vrandenburg. An attorney based in DC, Vrandenburg was a senior executive at CBS, AOL, Time Warner and Fox, before becoming a “patient advocate” after seeing two generations of his own family succumb to the disease. He launched DAC at the WEF meeting of 2021, virtually at the height of the COVID pandemic, as a multi-stakeholder partnership involving business, academic and civil society supporters from around the world. Four years later, the organization is now pivoting to encourage more research on those multiple facets of risks. “In fact, Alzheimer’s is a product of brain problems that occurred during your entire life,” Vrandenburg noted. “So we have now expanded to brain health across the lifespan.” ‘It’s the brain, stupid’ WHO Assistant Director-General of External Relations Catharina Boehme. Paradoxically, while the brain is the most critical organ in the human body – it’s also the one that we know the least about in terms of tools for ensuring good health, as well as effectively diagnoses and diseases prevention strategies. And yet, unlike TB, malaria and other deadly diseases, or even chronic diseases, there is no global programme or strategy for brain health. “Why is brain health important? Because it’s the brain, stupid,” said Kennedy, recalling the famous “It’s the economy, stupid” campaign slogan of Bill Clinton in his 1992 presidential campaign. “Investing in our brain capital matters and addressing brain health determinants such as education, healthcare, climate and healthy environments will be fundamental for meeting modern societal challenges,” added WHO’s Catharina Boehme, Assistant Director-General of External Relations. Boehme was standing in for WHO Director General, Dr Tedros, Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who flew to Tanzania earlier in the week to support the country’s response to a deadly Marburg outbreak. Costs of treatments soaring as world’s population ages Colorized brain scan – there are few techniques available to probe the brain’s inner workings. “It impacts us all. Every single person in this room has been impacted,” said Shelley Lyford, CEO and chair of the West Health Institute, part of a group of US non-profit organizations that advocates for the health of older Americans. By 2030, one in six people worldwide will be aged 60 or over, according to the latest WHO projections. By 2050, the world’s population of people aged 60 years and older will double from what it was in 2020 (1 billion), to 2.1 billion. “Cost is something that we’re going to have to think very, very seriously about in 2050 it’s estimated that Alzheimer’s and dementia related diseases will cost the US healthcare system alone over $1 trillion,” Lyford added. “We are already on an unsustainable trajectory with respect to healthcare costs, especially in America. But if we look at this as a worldwide issue, this it’s a tsunami that is facing us, and we need to get in front of it.” In light of the growing numbers of older people, as well as the high costs of treating Alzheimer’s and other dementia related diseases, prevention is ever more key, stressed Vrandenburg – and that means prevention in all areas of life, from exposures to environmental pollution to diet and lifestyle choices. Delhi: Air pollution exposure, among other risks, can set the stage for dementia at later stages of life. But it also means that the quest for new, and more affordable, diagnostics and drugs needs to span both the global south as well as the north. While problems of ageing and dementia have so far received the most attention in the North, the proportion of older people in low- and middle-income countries is growing and they have little access to treatments available in higher income nations. “We’re looking at how we can bring innovations occurring in the global North to the south,” Vrandenburg said. “But we’re also looking at the kinds of innovations that the Global South may ‘force’ on the north,” he said, referring to earlier R&D breakthroughs born out of resource scarcity. “This means lower cost diagnostics, lower cost interventions, lower cost treatments than what we could afford in the north,” Vrandenburg said. And “quite frankly,” he added, “a lot of people in the North can’t afford” what’s available in health care systems today, in any case.” ‘We can’t do this on our own’ Network of higher-order brain regions that degenerate earlier and faster than the rest of the brain. “One of the things we learned from the COVID pandemic is that we’re all interconnected… When we have an effort that is a joint effort amongst all the world’s countries, then we’re stronger,” Kennedy added. “For the future, in terms of brain health, mental health, which I am concerned about, we need to be in this together, because every country in the world is facing the same challenges for both depression, anxiety and also Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative disorders. “The only way to find those [new] interventions is to have more people participate in the science and research…. in a valid, evidence based science. “That’s going to require immense data sets, and the only way you’re going to get those data sets is If we’re getting China, Australia, Europe, US, Latin America, Africa, we don’t have that mindset now, and we need multilateral organizations like the WHO to help build the future of healthcare. We can’t do this all on our own.” Image Credits: DigitalRalph, Health Policy Watch , Health Policy Watch, Flickr: Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health, Chetan Bhattacharji, Nature Communications Screenshot. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Combat the infodemic in health information and support health policy reporting from the global South. Our growing network of journalists in Africa, Asia, Geneva and New York connect the dots between regional realities and the big global debates, with evidence-based, open access news and analysis. To make a personal or organisational contribution click here on PayPal.