On 12 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its “Global Status Update on Neurology”. The report is the first global assessment of the public health response to neurological disorders under the Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders 2022–31 (IGAP). Drawing on data from 102 WHO Member States representing 71% of the world population, the report sets 2022 baseline values for the 10 global targets of IGAP, across the domains of governance and advocacy, financing, service delivery and workforce, access to medicines and technologies, brain health promotion and disease prevention, and research and information systems. The report identifies gaps and implementation barriers, underscoring the need for coordinated action to achieve targets of the IGAP by 2031.
To address these issues, the report includes evidence-based and actionable recommendations for policymakers, IGAP partners and the broader neurology stakeholders. As part of the data collection for this report, six tracer conditions were used (including epilepsy, stroke etc.) however, dementia was not included, as data is collected separately under the WHO’s global action plan on dementia. Despite this, dementia is mentioned frequently throughout the report, including in relation to its cost, its disproportionate impact on women, as well as highlighting examples of work from the WHO’s global action plan on dementia e.g. the research blueprint for dementia, the guidelines on risk reduction etc. The full global status report on neurology is available at: