Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map Released

Today, the Alzheimer’s Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the Healthy Brain Initiative’s State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018-2023 Road Map. As the number of people with Alzheimer’s grows — and grows quickly — a robust public health response is needed now to mitigate the future impacts of dementia. The updated Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) Road Map is ready to guide that response with an emphasis on health equity, collaboration, and sustainability. Leaders in public health can use the menu of 25 actions to promote brain health, improve care for people living with cognitive impairment, and better support caregivers. The full guide provides suggestions for implementation, case studies, and data to justify plans.

“To achieve meaningful progress against Alzheimer's disease, we must recognize and address it as a public health crisis,” said Robert Egge, Alzheimer’s Association Chief Public Policy Officer and co-chair of the HBI Road Map Leadership Committee. “The HBI Road Map provides the public health community with concrete steps to act quickly and strategically.”

To develop this new quick-start guide, an expert and practitioner leadership committee assessed progress with the second HBI Road Map (2013-2018), consulted with more than 100 stakeholders, and formed an agenda with the most needed and practical steps that state and local public health departments can accomplish. Organized into four Essential Services of Public Health, the HBI Road Map calls on public health to act now to realize a better future for communities impacted by dementia, especially among vulnerable populations.

The full HBI Road Map — along with a planning guide, implementation examples and tools, and data — can be accessed at alz.org/publichealth (more details below). The guidebook is also online at cdc.gov/aging, which has a wide array of data to inform this critical public health work. Be sure you and your colleagues stay up-to-date on Alzheimer’s news by subscribing to our newsletter at alz.org/publichealth.