On 10 February, at the 156th meeting of Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a recommendation on extending the Global Action Plan on the Public Health Response to Dementia 2017-2025, which would see it continue until 2031. The recommendation noted that none of the targets within the global action plan were on course to be met, whilst highlighting the continued relevance of the subject, particularly in the context of ageing demographics in many countries and regions.
Specifically, the recommendation encouraged the World Health Assembly (WHA):
1) to extend the global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017–2025 to 2031, in line with the intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders 2022–2031;
2) to request the Director-General to submit a progress report to the Health Assembly in 2027 and 2029 on the implementation of this decision, as part of the reporting on the WHO Global Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030.
The 78th meeting of the WHA, at which the final decision will be made, will be held 19-27 May 2025. The full recommendation is available at: https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB156/B156_36-en.pdf
Videos from the day, including session 10 of the meeting, where the extension of the global action plan was discussed, are available at: https://www.who.int/about/governance/executive-board/156th-session