The Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC), a worldwide initiative to prevent Alzheimer’s and improve brain health, today announced the publication of a new paper in Nature Medicine , detailing a bold five-year strategy to address global brain health by strengthening health systems and scaling low cost, easy to use innovations. The paper , titled “Strengthening Africa’s Brain Health and Economic Resilience,” presents the rationale and roadmap behind the African-led and DAC coordinated 6 x 5 Plan: six pillars to accelerate brain health progress over the next five years.
DAC’s model emphasizes health system transformation, from earlier detection and evidence-based care pathways to strengthening workforce training and improving global data sharing. The paper also draws insights from real-world implementations in Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria, demonstrating how locally tested solutions can inform and shape global policy.
“The DAC Africa Brain Health Plan marks a new lens through which to view the economic and social power of brain health,” said George Vradenburg, Founding Chairman of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. “We began this journey last year in Nairobi, where DAC and Aga Khan University mounted the first-ever Nature Conference on the African continent – a bold step toward treating brain health as an economic imperative and social development priority. This paper lays out that strategy. By investing in brain health now, across all stages of life, we can unlock the potential of African youth, build the skills for an African workforce of the future, innovate resilient, people-centered health systems using new AI technology and prevent brain disorders and their financial and social burden on African families.”
Rather than focus solely on treatment in later life, the 6 x 5 Plan emphasizes prevention, integration, and economic resilience. The six priorities are:
“Our best bet in the face of aging populations and brain disorders is to build resilient, equitable systems that support lifelong brain health,” said Dr. Mie Rizig, a clinical senior research fellow at the University College of London’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the paper’s lead author. “Our paper underscores that we have the tools – including local partnerships and inclusive research – to act now, and that is the path we must take.”
To access the full paper, visit: https://rdcu.be/ezGpx . For more on DAC and its work, visit davosalzheimerscollaborative.org .
ABOUT THE DAVOS ALZHEIMER’S COLLABORATIVE
The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) is a pioneering worldwide initiative to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and improve brain health, seeking to mirror the success of global efforts against infectious diseases. DAC is extending global research beyond its current focus on traditional Western European ethnic populations into the highly diversified populations of the Global South, where the vast majority of those with Alzheimer’s live. By introducing lower-cost screening and diagnostic tools as well as new treatment and prevention modalities in primary care and community health settings, DAC is driving implementation of health system solutions that are appropriate for worldwide application. DAC also promotes the vital importance of brain health throughout the lifespan by addressing cardiometabolic and lifestyle factors, especially in early and mid-life. Absent effective action at scale around the world, by 2050, more than 150 million families and half a billion people will be personally impacted by dementia, creating a social, financial, economic, and global security disaster of historic proportions. DAC was launched in Davos in 2021 by the World Economic Forum and the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease. For more information, please visit: davosalzheimerscollaborative.org .
Nature Medicine
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Strengthening Africa’s brain health and economic resilience
7-Aug-2025