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Dementia is one of the defining public health challenges of our time. In the United States, where this podcast is based, the number of people developing dementia each year is projected to nearly double, reaching approximately one million new cases annually by 2060 (Fang et al., 2025, Nature Medicine).
At the same time, remarkable advances in dementia risk reduction, early diagnosis, disease-modifying therapies, and person-centered care are transforming what is possible. Yet access to these innovations remains deeply unequal. Certain populations experience a disproportionately higher burden of dementia while continuing to be underrepresented in research, limiting the reach and effectiveness of emerging solutions.
Within the United States, these disparities are particularly striking. For Black Americans, the number of new dementia cases is projected to triple by 2060. Globally, the inequities are even more pronounced. By 2050, regions across the Global South—including Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia—are projected to experience increases in dementia prevalence of 248%, 345%, and 226%, respectively. Together with other low- and middle-income countries, these regions are expected to account for 71% of the world's population living with dementia.
Despite this growing need, globally, access to diagnosis, treatment, and care remains profoundly limited. It is estimated that nearly three-quarters of people living with dementia worldwide have never received a formal diagnosis.
Confronting these disparities can feel overwhelming. Yet our guest today approaches this challenge not through a lens of scarcity, but one of possibility and collective action.
Dr. Victor Valcour is Site Director of the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, and a geriatrician at the Edward and Pearl Feinberg Memory and Aging Center at UCSF. His research focuses on the impact of HIV on brain health and on building international capacity to address cognitive aging and dementia.
As Site Director of the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Valcour is helping cultivate a global network of leaders united by shared values and a common purpose of reducing the scale and impact of dementia worldwide.
Learn more about Dr. Victor Valcour:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/victor-valcour
Read and watch more:
Building Capacity and Assessing Risk for Dementia in Diverse Populations
https://www.gbhi.org/projects/building-capacity-and-assessing-risk-dementia-diverse-populations
Bridging Gaps in Dementia Research: Insights from East Africa
https://www.gbhi.org/news-publications/bridging-gaps-dementia-research-insights-east-africa
Strengthening Brain Health Research in Colombia
https://www.gbhi.org/projects/building-capacity-brain-health-research-colombia
https://www.gbhi.org/news-publications/strengthening-brain-health-research-colombia
Brain Bridges Podcast, featuring conversations with leaders working to advance brain health and equity around the world.
GBHI 10-Year Anniversary Events: Celebrating a Decade of Global Brain Health Leadership
Watch Leadership in Action: Global Brain Health Satellite Sessions (from GBHI 10-year anniversary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rivwOFmDZo
Are you interested in joining a Global Community of Brain Health Leaders? GBHI Fellowship Applications are now open.
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
