The U.N. utters the word: Dementia
Joyce Mutisya, photographed in 2023 outside her home in Wote, Kenya. For years she struggled with symptoms of dementia. But she didn't realize it was a condition for which she could seek professional help. Claire Harbage/NPR
For the first time, the United Nations has committed to directly addressing dementia in a political declaration on global health.
On Thursday, world leaders meeting at the U.N. General Assembly in New York unveiled a new framework to tackle noncommunicable diseases and mental health challenges. While the declaration highlights conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, it also names neurological illnesses — with dementia included for the first time.
The measure was briefly held up after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opposed it in the final stages, but it is widely expected to be approved in October.
“This is historic for us. It’s a watershed moment,” said Paola Barbarino, CEO of Alzheimer’s Disease International, a global advocacy group representing 105 countries. She emphasized that the recognition is particularly important for low-income nations, many of which still underestimate the impact of dementia.
Even in wealthy countries such as the United States, experts note that prevention strategies — including healthier diets, better blood pressure management, and weight control — have been slow to take hold. Access to reliable care and support remains a struggle for families living with dementia.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a global action plan on dementia in 2017, and extended it earlier this year, the condition has often been overlooked in major health policy frameworks. WHO’s 2022 report on noncommunicable diseases, for example, failed to mention dementia at all. The last U.N. acknowledgment of the condition was in 2011, when Alzheimer’s disease was named in a declaration but without specific commitments.
WHO praised the new declaration in a statement to NPR: “The 2025 declaration marks a significant milestone by recognizing the global impact of dementia and committing to scale up access to services for the 57 million people living with the condition worldwide.”
Barbarino, who has spent years campaigning for stronger recognition of dementia, said the change reflects growing awareness of its impact as populations age. Dementia is now one of the leading causes of death in several countries, including the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland. Australia recently declared it the nation’s top cause of mortality.
“It’s extraordinary that it wasn’t already included,” Barbarino said, pointing to the long-standing stigma that kept dementia out of early global health discussions in the 1980s and 1990s.
The declaration is expected to push both high- and low-income countries to act. For wealthier nations, dementia prevention overlaps with existing public health campaigns against smoking and sedentary lifestyles. For lower-income nations, recognition may mark the first step toward building awareness, medical infrastructure, and caregiver support.
Still, Barbarino cautioned that commitments on paper are only a beginning. “This is about governments acknowledging dementia as a societal challenge, just as they have with cancer or heart disease,” she said. “The real test will be whether countries implement these promises and provide real support for the millions of families affected worldwide.”
About Post Author
