The paper demonstrates the relevance of optimising brain health within the broader context of public health and society and offers practical policy solutions and future directions for the field
WHO has launched a position paper which presents a framework for understanding brain health and the importance of brain health optimisation for all. Brain health can be defined as the state of brain functioning across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioral and motor domains, allowing a person to realise their full potential over their life course, irrespective of the presence or absence of disorders. Many determinants are known to impact brain health and continuous interactions between these determinants plus an individual’s context lead to lifelong adaptation of brain structure and functioning. The position paper provides insight into the following clusters of determinants:
- Physical health,
- Healthy environments,
- Safety and security,
- Learning and social connection and
- Access to quality services.
Optimising brain health by addressing these determinants leads to multiple benefits including lower rates of many chronic health conditions – neurological, mental, substance use and physical as well as improved quality of life and multiple social and economic benefits, all of which contribute to greater well-being and help advance society.
The paper demonstrates the relevance of optimising brain health within the broader context of public health and society and offers practical policy solutions and future directions for the field including specific actions for addressing brain health determinants, ongoing priorities in brain health research, and operationalising and measuring brain health.
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