Colloque - Dementia: how public health did, does, and could contribute

Stimuler la réflexion, s’ouvrir à de nouvelles perspectives, suivre l’actualité des recherches, des pratiques et des initiatives en santé publique, débattre: autant de fonctions remplies par les colloques du Département épidémiologie et systèmes de santé (DESS). Lors de chaque session, des spécialistes d’horizons divers viennent présenter l’état de leurs recherches, leurs expériences ou leurs projets.

Ces colloques, ouverts au public, s’adressent à un large public de professionnelles et professionnels de la santé. Ils sont recommandés par la Société suisse des spécialistes en prévention et santé publique (SPHD) pour la reconnaissance de la formation continue.

Abstract

Public health has reframed dementia as a measurable—and partly preventable—population challenge. First, epidemiology clarified case definitions, quantified occurrence and burden, and projected trajectories. 

Second, these data drove policy, informing a global action plan organized around seven action areas.

Third, a coordinated research agenda was established. 

Fourth, accumulating evidence coalesced into life-course risk-reduction models. 

The task now is to ensure that population-level policies and targeted clinical prevention are combined, and that effective interventions are rigorously evaluated for implementation, scalability, and equity. Public health should also convene multidisciplinary stakeholders and foster the convergence of diverse evidence streams to enable a much-needed paradigm shift.

Speaker

Emiliano Albanese is Professor of Public Health at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and Professor of Public Mental Health in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva. 

His work bridges dementia epidemiology and public mental health. He has advanced life-course models of dementia risk reduction, and he promotes the integration of whole population and individual approaches and implementation research to scale effective, equitable interventions. Emiliano advocates for brain health as a public good, fostering multidisciplinary convergence towards a paradigm shift in dementia research and response.