Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit at AUT

World’s leading minds will gather for Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit at AUT

International researchers, health professionals and policymakers will gather at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) for the Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit on November 27.

The one-day summit brings together the world’s leading minds and best available research on the global burden of neurological disorders, with those most committed to improving public health outcomes.

As the leading cause of disability and second cause of death, neurological disorders represent a huge global health problem. One-in-three people now suffer from a neurological disorder worldwide. In the past 15 years, the proportion of people affected has increased from 20 percent to more than 30 percent.

Rapidly ageing populations and negative health trends among youth will contribute to a further influx of neurological disorders within the next decade. Unless immediate action is taken, they will become a more serious and unmanageable threat to public health.

Professor Valery Feigin, Director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at AUT, says: “We need worldwide cooperation in the research, treatment and prevention of neurological disorders, which is grossly underfunded. Neurological care within the public health system needs to be strengthened, and effective primary prevention is essential to help curb this global health crisis”.

The Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit is a collaboration between AUT, The Lancet Neurology and the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study which is coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

The Lancet Neurology will release a special collection of articles on the global burden of neurological disorders before an international audience at the Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit.

The articles will describe and discuss the increasing public health threat of neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, migraine and tension-type headaches, motor neuron diseases, meningitis, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Dr Elena Becker-Barroso, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet Neurology, says: “Brain health is the greatest challenge of societies in the 21st century. These articles should be a wake-up call for healthcare systems and research funding agencies, as the data shows that neurology and neurosciences must be at the top of their agendas”.

The articles present expert analysis of the latest evidence from the GBD study. Collected by a consortium of more than 3,000 researchers in 140 countries, GBD data provides a comprehensive picture of the incidence, prevalence, disability and mortality of neurological disorders, as well as more than 300 other diseases, worldwide.

Professor Theo Vos, a key member of the GBD study research team, says: “These findings are integral to making the Global Burden of Disease study more accessible to clinicians. Medical personnel who care for those with neurological diseases have long wanted a comprehensive road map to improve their understanding of neurological disease burden. This series of articles is a helpful first step”.

The overview paper will be co-authored by Professor Vos and Professor Feigin. They will both present at the Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit, as will Dr Becker-Barroso.

The event programme also features Professor Chris Murray, Director of the IHME, representatives from the Ministry of Health and Health Research Council of New Zealand and researchers from the U.S, U.K, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Egypt, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Attendance at the Global Burden of Disease Brain Summit is by invitation only.

The event will be live-streamed at aut.ac/AUTbrainsummitLIVE

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