DAVOS – With populations ageing and mental health disorders at a record high, halting the global “pandemic” of brain disorders needs to be a paramount concern of industry – as well as the global health community.

What is needed is a global effort spawning a “healthy brain economy” for the future, reflecting the same sense of commitment and investments as those displayed in preventing childhood diseases.

That was a key message of George Vrandenburg, founder of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative, on the closing day of a three-day ‘’Brain House’’ series of panels and seminars at the World Economic Forum, the first such event ever to be mounted during the WEF. 

“We live in a mega trend of aging demographics, which means that the chronic diseases of aging, in terms of numbers, in terms of DALYs by brain disorders are growing rapidly, and the cost to governments, the cost to families and the cost each of us is rising rapidly,” Vradenburg said, after bringing brain health to the main Davos stage for the first time ever.

In classic Davos style, the three day dialogue series that took place in a custom-built “Brain House” pod near the WEF mainstage venues, not only made the health case – it highlighted the business case for tackling brain health, as an economic and workforce imperative – as well as a global health goal. 

Brain economy – negative or positive

Given demographic trends, there will be far fewer working people to support growing populations of older people, and ensure the level of affluence that industrialized economies, in particular, have seen to date, Vradenburg pointed out.

“If we have fewer workers for larger populations, without increasing worker productivity and participation in the economy, we’re not going to be in the same place at the end of the century, as we were at the beginning.

“So moving from a ‘brain negative’ world we have fewer brains working, more brain’s sick, to a ‘brain positive’ world in which the brain is contributing to economic growth, to capital, as well as to our own health, is a transformation of comparable scope and scale to climate change toward what we’re seeing with AI. 

“The big number is $26 trillion of economic opportunity from addressing brain health, including in the workplace, where proactively investing in holistic employee health could create close to $12 trillion of global economic value,” said Lucy Pérez, who co-leads McKinsey Health Institute (MHI), a non-profit branch of the global consultancy. She cited recent research by MHI in collaboration with DAC and the US-NGO Us Against Alzheimer’s on how investments in brain health would enhance workforce performance, ignite innovation and “reclaim” millions of years of quality life years – now lost to disability.  

Against the opportunities are also the costs. Brain disorders currently cost the global economy some $5 trillion annually — a figure projected to soar to $16 trillion by 2030, MHI projects. 

“But let’s admit it, this can be quite challenging for employers, because we’ve been looking at brain health in very siloed ways,”  Pérez said, referring to the fact that employers face a crowded marketplace of solutions addressing entry points like mental health or workforce performance, which can be difficult to navigate.

‘Disruptive’ agenda ? 

Indeed, while Vradenburg’s own journey into the issue began after watching three generations of family members succumb to Alzheimer’s – he soon realized that focusing only on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, as such, was not enough. 

As a movement, DAC, as well, has gradually moved to embrace a more holistic ‘life course’ approach – which sees brain health embracing a wide range of issues – from the ways in which prenatal nutrition, environmental health and climate change, and a host of lifestyle factors increase – or reduce – one’s risks.  

“What we have learned is that Alzheimer’s disease can only be prevented and addressed by a holistic life-course approach to brain health – from maternal health to mental health, from workforce stress to cardiometabolic treatments, from autism to Alzheimer’s.   

 “We’ve got to change our nutrition, we’ve got to change our educational system. We’ve got to do a better job of maternal health – so that in the early childhood years, when the brain is developing, those kids are positioned to realize their dreams in life,” said Vradenburg.

“So how do we bring about change? How do you basically stop the pandemic of brain disorders with the same energy and commitment that we applied to preventing childhood diseases?

“This is an epidemic caused by demography. It’s not an epidemic caused by infection, but the consequences in terms of the globe are comparable. 

“How is it that we develop the brains of our young people – and increase health and productivity, for the next few years as well for the next 20-30 years?

Uniquely positioned – for all sides of the political spectrum 

As the Trump administration introduces sharp disruptions to the global health agenda – including withdrawing from the World Health Organization and a freeze on some, but not all, of its global health funding and support to the developing world, DAC’s agenda and its evolution also seems oddly timely.  

Brain health is a theme that people on diverse sides of the political spectrum seem to want to embrace even in today’s polarized world – and that’s something rare these days.

For traditional liberals, the holistic appeal of looking at maternal health and environment and healthier lifestyles as contributors to dementia and Alzheimer’s is both scientifically sound as well as welcome – against the usual siloed disease categories. 

But the initiative also holds great appeal to conservatives  – who like the linkages being made to addiction and mental health – particularly big worries in the United States – as well the focus on  cutting edge scientific discovery. 

One of the biggest new backers of a new brain health initiative, in fact, is the Lieutenant  Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, a close Trump ally. In November 2024, he announced a proposal for a new “moonshot” initiative investing  some $3 billion of the state’s revenue surplus into a new “Brain Research Institute of Texas” modeled on the state’s world famous Cancer Prevention and Research Institute (CPRIT).

Texas conservatives and brain health research

The interest of Texas conservatives in funding research on brain health is more obvious than many realize, observers point out. Few people realize that Texas has one of the highest proportions of philanthropists of anywhere in the world. The Texas Medical Center (TMC), a sprawling agglomeration of some 60 research and health care institutions linked together in a non-profit corporation, is the largest in the world, with a GDP of $25 billion. And that’s not to mention the potential for exploring new brain health solutions driven by AI, in a state that is home Space X and Elon Musk.  

Speaking at the DAC forum last week, Jochen Reiser, president of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, echoed the governor’s plan and how it dovetailed with the DAC agenda. 

“The lieutenant governor has made a commitment – obviously this has to go to [state] Congress – but the commitment is there to put $3 billion for brain health and dementia research forward,” he said. 

“And we will only be able to do this together with you, because when we do this alone, we might actually get some of it, but we won’t be successful. So this is, for me, a call to collaboration… And if we invest together in a movement, it can’t be stopped. 

“We are thinking of more engagement here with DAC. And I really want to see Texas lead.  I think this is ideal for Texas. We do have a lot of mental health issues in the state, and we have the leadership position, we have the political climate right now, and we have the funds, quite frankly, to be a dominant force, not just for Texas, really for everybody.”

Taking the ‘Brain House’ on the Road

With this convergence of forces in play, DAC and McKinsey will be holding a further series of “Brain House” consultations in venues around the world, asking stakeholders in the private and public sector, as well as philanthropy, about how to take the initiative forward. 

The Brain House “Roadshow” is planning stops at the G20 and G7 venues as well as the May World Health Assembly (WHA), and September’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City.

One initial aim is to simply get brain health on the map, as such. Strikingly, it’s a term that, to date, has no major stake in the global health architecture.

“The Brain House will serve as a hub for dialogue and action at the intersection of brain health and pressing global issues such as brain disorders, mental health, climate change, aging populations, and artificial intelligence,” says Vradenburg.

“By spotlighting the economic and societal imperatives of brain health, DAC aims to position brain health as a cornerstone of global health agendas in 2025 and beyond.” 

Indeed, there are as yet no WHO “brain health” resolutions on record. Nor are there global action plans or reports mapping the extent of the problem and tracking progress on solutions. 

While there are dozens of multilateral organizations dealing with AIDS, TB and Malaria, lesser-known neglected diseases, tropical diseases, NCDs, disabilities, – and just about every other global health permutation that you can think of, nothing comparable exists for the brain.  

A new global Brain Health organization ?

So, we asked Vradenburg, is a WHO ‘Department of Brain Health’ a DAC aspiration?  

Vradenburg doesn’t answer ‘yes or no’,  right now.  He said he sees the WHO as a partner in the dialogue – but in line with the evolving dynamics of health diplomacy today, his outlook is more polycentric. 

“WHO is particularly a trendsetter in the global south,” he said. “But developed countries will anyway go their own way first in setting national priorities and agendas. 

“We’re a big tent,” he says, of the Swiss and US-registered public-private partnership. In fact its 30-odd “strategic partners” include some of the biggest names in pharma, like Roche, Johnson &Johnson and Abbvie, alongside philanthropies, universities and research entities. But there are several hundred more informal collaborators from research, philanthropy and the private sector.

And what about five years down the road?  His vision is big. He sees DAC spawning the creation of a new global organization “with the scope, scale and impact of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and CEPI [Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations] to address the epidemic of brain disorders across the lifespan, from the first 1000 days of life, to the last.”

Image Credits: Health Policy Watch, Daniel Kraft/DAC, TMC, HP Watch.