Alzheimer's...another pandemic 'we know is coming'

Loading player...
There are currently an estimated 50 million families around the world affected by Alzheimer's disease at a cost of $1tn a year to the global economy. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to $15tn a year. Speaking to BizNews at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022, founding Chairman of the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative (DAC), George Vradenburg said, unlike the Covid-19 pandemic, "this is a pandemic we know is coming, to a certainty, because of the ageing populations of the world". Vradenburg explained that public/private collaboration is essential if the world is to meaningfully fight the disease. "No one company can solve this. No one government can solve this. No one academic researcher can solve this. So it's going to be a team sport to beat this sucker." The DAC announced that it has partnered with Kenya's Aga Khan University to launch a two-part research programme that will bring inclusivity and diversity to Alzheimer’s research that has focused almost exclusively on white Western Europeans in the past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 May 2022 2PM English South Africa Investing · Business News

Other recent episodes

BizNews Edge: Stranger than fiction - Jooste's consigliere meets ET-type end

Today's BizNews Edge covers three stories that cut to the heart of South African business and politics. John Steenhuisen has broken publicly with the DA, naming Geordin Hill-Lewis and Tony Leon in allegations that threaten serious damage to the party just months before the 2026 municipals. Prosus, once a byword…
29 Jun 5AM 24 min

Criminalising corporate silence with Wendy Addison

South Africa's first high-profile whistleblower Wendy Addison is done talking shop. She's raised a criminal docket against a corporation and its directors for silencing two financial industry whistleblowers — and she thinks it could be a watershed moment. Can personal criminal accountability finally give whistleblower protection real teeth?
29 Jun 3AM 23 min

BN Daybreak: Strait of Hormuz showdown as US and Iran head back to Doha

Vessels are still threading the Strait of Hormuz, but a Bloomberg analyst calls it Schrodinger's Strait: you never know if it's open until you try to get through. With traffic down to a fraction of normal and ships taking hits, owners are weighing whether the world's most vital oil route…
28 Jun 9PM 15 min