- The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) is a global initiative to respond to Alzheimer's and other dementias, estimated to affect 50 million families and hundreds of millions of caregivers worldwide by mid-century.
- DAC's vision is to create a global ecosystem of innovation that speeds up and scales the global response to Alzheimer's disease, and includes governments, academics, private sector leaders and the NGO community.
- DAC is a partnership between the World Economic Forum and The Global CEO Initiative of Alzheimer's Disease.
- Learn more here and share on social #davosagenda
Geneva, Switzerland, 25 January 2021 - COVID-19 will be the priority for health systems around the world in the year ahead. However, diseases like dementia are projected to increase from affecting 50 million families today to 150 million families and half a billion individuals by 2050.
The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC) today launched a first-of-its-kind global effort linking discovery research, clinical trials and health system preparedness across high, middle and low resource countries to tackle the disease.
This initiative answers the call to action from the 2020 Annual Meeting in Davos and is one part of the progress seen throughout the year. DAC has established a comprehensive approach to collecting diverse population data, conducting clinical trials and supporting health system preparedness.
This new global initiative has prioritized three main areas of focus over this past year. In partnership with HundredK+ Consortium Cohort, DAC aims to build a global cohort with high-quality, detailed data on a well-characterized, diverse population. To-date, this effort has engaged 30 cohorts representing 21 million patients on six continents.
Regarding clinical trials, DAC is striving to build a global clinical trial network with participants from Europe, Singapore, China, Australia, Colombia, and South Korea.
Lastly, DAC aims to help facilitate the implementation of global commitments and strategies to ensure health system preparedness for Alzheimer's.
Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said: "I am pleased that the World Economic Forum continues to be a catalyst for initiatives of public-private partnerships in the field of Health and Healthcare - first the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), then The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and now the Davos Alzheimer Collaborative (DAC). Alzheimer's is a disease that has such an impact on the lives and livelihood of hundreds of millions of people. It deserves much more attention, but also coalitions to address the issue."
"The world is confronting an emerging pandemic of Alzheimer's and other chronic diseases of aging that threatens to be more devastating, longer lasting and more costly than COVID-19," said George Vradenburg, Convener, Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease (CEOi), Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, and Chairman and Co-Founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer's. "DAC is premised on the proposition that individual governments, as well as intergovernmental organizations, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, leading researchers, and patient advocates, must come together to drive progress forward."
"Dementia is having a cruel impact on families, societies and nations around the world," said Margaret Chan, former Director General of the World Health Organization and current Dean of the Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, China. "It is time that national leaders take action to create a global mechanism - like CEPI and COVAX - to respond to this world-wide dementia pandemic. The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative is that global mechanism bringing together national governments, industry leaders, top scientists, leading NGO's and patient-led organizations, including, importantly, from low- and middle-income countries. The time to act is now."
"We are pleased to work with the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative on this important effort," said Niranjan Bose, Managing Director of Health & Life Sciences at Gates Ventures. "For those suffering with Alzheimer's, there is currently no way to stop or slow the progression. Data sharing initiatives like this will be key to accelerating progress and ending the affliction associated with this terrible disease."
DAC is following the models of GAVI and CEPI to bring progress to the most challenging global public health issues. DAC continues to gather support and financial commitments and is being advised by top thought leaders in science, finance, and health care across the globe.
About the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative
Initiated in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in 2020, The Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative is a public-private partnership committed to aligning stakeholders with a new vision for our collective global response against the challenges Alzheimer's presents to patients, caregivers and healthcare infrastructures. Led by The World Economic Forum (WEF) and The Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer's Disease (CEOi) and fueled by a mission of service to the 150 million families and half a billion people inevitably impacted by this disease by 2050, DAC is a collaborative for the benefit of all people, in all places.
About The Davos Agenda
