The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a global initiative of Qatar Foundation, has lent its support to the first ever ministerial meeting on dementia led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in
Geneva.
Following the recent publication of the WISH 2015 report ‘A Call to Action: The Global Response to Dementia through Policy Innovation’, a delegation from WISH participated in the WHO’s inaugural Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia
on March 16 and 17.
The meeting brought together more than 400 policymakers, healthcare experts and NGOs from 80 countries, to address the increasing global threat posed by dementia and its impact on health and
development.
Noor al-Sada, second secretary at the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, delivered a note to show its support for the WHO and the conference. The intervention read: “The incidence of dementia is rising at an alarming rate, most notably in lower and middle income countries, which account for the majority of new cases. Recognising this, Qatar was pleased to welcome some of the world’s leading dementia experts, many of whom are in this room, to Doha last month as part of the community of leaders convened by WISH.
“Qatar whole-heartedly embraces the aspirations of this first WHO ministerial conference on global action against dementia. We applaud the WHO for convening this meeting, along with the support of the UK Department of Health and the leadership exercised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in this urgent matter.”
Participants at the WHO conference signed a call for action against dementia. The document has called for raising the priority accorded to global action against dementia on the agendas of relevant high-level forums and meetings of national and
international leaders.
During the conference, Egbert Schillings, CEO, WISH, met Faisal Abdulla al-Henzab, ambassador of Qatar to the UN, and presented the WISH 2015
dementia report.
Egbert Schillings presenting WISH dementia report to Faisal Abdulla al-Henzab at the WHO conference.
