Strengthening Africa's brain health and economic resilience.

Journal: Nature medicine
Published Date: Aug 7, 2025

Abstract

Africa stands at a decisive moment in which urgent action is essential to safeguard its brain health and economic stability. While Africa's population remains predominantly young, it is expanding and aging rapidly. This demographic shift is projected to drive a sharp rise in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, with profound health and economic costs-but brain health research, policy, funding and care across the continent remain critically underdeveloped. In this Perspective, we examine key trends in aging and brain health across Africa and introduce the 6 × 5 Plan-a 5-year strategic framework developed through collective multi-stakeholder insights-to address this pressing challenge. The plan targets six high-impact priorities: strengthening advocacy and health literacy, positioning brain health as a socioeconomic driver, breaking down silos of people and data, repurposing local resources, investing in artificial intelligence and digital health, and boosting research funding. To ensure effective implementation and long-term sustainability, the plan will be executed through a pan-African, multisectoral task force. This initiative seeks to accelerate Africa's response to the needs of a changing population and position the continent as a global leader in brain health innovation.

Authors

  • Mie Rizig
    Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK. m.rizig@ucl.ac.uk.
  • Connor McLaughlin
    Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
  • Vaibhav A Narayan
    Neuroscience Therapeutic Area, Janssen Research & Development, LLC, Pennington, NJ, United States of America.
  • Mohamed Salama
    Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt; Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland; Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, El Mansura, Egypt. Electronic address: Mohamed-Salama@aucegypt.edu.
  • Chinedu T Udeh-Momoh
    School of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
  • Chido Ratidzai Rwafa-Madzvamutse
    World Health Organization African Region (AFRO), Brazzaville, Congo.
  • Muthoni Gichu
    Division of Geriatric Medicine, Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Akin Ojagbemi
    Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
  • Maëlenn Guerchet
    Inserm U1094, IRD UMR270, University of Limoges, CHU Limoges, EpiMaCT - Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases in Tropical Zone, Institute of Epidemiology and Tropical Neurology, OmegaHealth, Limoges, France.
  • Byron Bitanihirwe
    Science for Africa Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Lingani Mbakile-Mahlanza
    University of Botswana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Gaborone, Botswana.
  • Razak Gyasi
    African Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Cyprian M Mostert
    Brain and Mind Institute, Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Mosab Ali Awadelkareem
    Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
  • Mouly Fall
    Department of Neurology, National Pikine Hospital, Dakar, Senegal.
  • Alfred K Njamnshi
    Brain Research Africa Initiative (BRAIN), Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Rufus Akinyemi
    Neuroscience and Ageing Research Unit, Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training (IAMRAT), College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
  • Raj Kalaria
    Clinical and Translational Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
  • Riadh Gouider
    Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.
  • Drew Holzapfel
    Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
  • Zul Merali
    Sleep Research Unit, The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research, 1145 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K1Z 7K4, Canada.
  • Stephen Tollman
    MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Harris A Eyre
    Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Houston, United States of America.
  • Adesola Ogunniyi
    Neuroscience and Ageing Research Unit, Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training (IAMRAT), College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
  • George Vradenburg
    Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Keywords

No keywords available for this article.

External Resources

Popular Topics
Recent Journals