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Publications

Journal Article Review Epublish

PubMed: 42897621 DOI: 10.1186/s44263-026-00340-4

Public brain health: a framework for action to promote and safeguard brain health.

BMC Glob Public Health 4(1)

Authors: Timothy Daly, Dorothee Horstkötter, Harris Anthony Eyre, Emily Murphy, Seth Alan Gale, Lisa Cosgrove, Davide Bruno, Eoin Cotter, Andrea Slachevsky, James Rupert Fletcher, Lindsay Wallace, Abel Wajnerman-Paz, Jennifer Jaie Manly, Jonathan Fuller, Stella-Maria Paddick, Romain Manet, C Elizabeth Shaaban, Marcello Ienca, Andrea Sylvia Winkler, Eider Arenaza-Urquijo, Carol Brayne, Agustín Ibáñez, Steffi Riedel-Heller, Edo Richard, Sebastian Walsh, Carole Dufouil

Affiliations

  • Bordeaux Population Health, University of Bordeaux & INSERM, UMR 1219, Bordeaux, France.
  • ImmunoConcept, University of Bordeaux & CNRS, UMR 5164, Bordeaux, France.
  • Bioethics Program, FLACSO Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Department of Health, Ethics and Society, Mental Health and Neuroscience Research Institute (MHeNs), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
  • Global Brain Economy Initiative, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
  • Department of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
  • Neuro Engineering Initiative, School of Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
  • Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
  • Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association, Barcelona, Spain.
  • University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco, USA.
  • Child Brain Policy Initiative, California Institute on Law, Neuroscience & Education, San Francisco, USA.
  • Mass General Brigham Memory Disorders Division, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
  • Brain Health Program, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA.
  • Applied Ethics Center, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston, USA.
  • School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
  • Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
  • Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Gerosciences Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO), Santiago, Chile.
  • Memory and Neuropsychiatric Center (CMYN), Hospital del Salvador & Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
  • Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory (LANNEC), University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
  • Neurology and Psychiatry Department, Clínica Alemana-Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile.
  • School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
  • Department of Community Health & Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
  • Instituto de Éticas Aplicadas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
  • Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA.
  • Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Public Health, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK.
  • Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Gateshead, UK.
  • Millennium Institute of Care Research (MICARE), Santiago, Chile.
  • Department of Cranial Neurosurgery, Neurological Hospital Pierre Wertheimer, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Bron, France.
  • Department of Health Promotion and Development, School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Institute for History and Ethics in Medicine, TUM School of Medicine and Health, School of Social Sciences & Technology, Munich, Germany.
  • Department of Neurology, Center for Global Health, TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
  • Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
  • Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain.
  • University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Cambridge Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 0SR, UK.
  • Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
  • Department of Biophysics, School of Medicine, Istanbul Medipol University, 34815, Istanbul, Türkiye.
  • Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center (BBRC), Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Barcelona, 08005, Spain.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), University of San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Dept of Neurology, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
  • Dept of Public & Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, Chaterhouse Square Campus, EC1M 6BQ, London, UK.
  • Bordeaux Population Health, University of Bordeaux & INSERM, UMR 1219, Bordeaux, France.

Abstract

The promotion of brain health has generally been undertaken at the level of individuals, for instance, in the quest for precision treatments for persons with, or at high risk of, neurological disorders. But the growing global burden of neurological conditions and the increasing understanding of the brain's central role in all facets of human life have spurred interest in public health approaches to the brain that emphasise population-level strategies benefitting everyone as part of a "brain health for all" vision of society. This article defines the emerging concept of public brain health as intersectoral action to establish brain health priorities, empower communities, and reduce health inequities, with the ultimate goal of improving brain health at the population level across the lifetime. We propose a framework to promote and safeguard population brain health with the following key elements: co-defining priorities with communities, balancing prevention strategies, and reducing global gaps in brain health through ambitious policy-making. Public brain health calls for collective responsibility to maximise brain health equity across the life course.

MeSH

Brain