Page 18 - Healthy Brain Initiative, State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018-2023 Road Map

Major strides in improving the nation’s health can best (such as cardiovascular health, infectious diseases,
occur by focusing on communities at greatest risk and and other relevant conditions) can also be highly
eliminating barriers to quality healthcare services. 10,11 effective in achieving similar outcomes.
Cognitive health is no exception. In implementing
the actions in this Road Map, public health should Leverage resources for sustained impact.
consider concentrating resources on populations who The challenges inherent in tackling dementia and
are underserved, are more vulnerable, or suffer a improving cognitive health far exceed the capacity
disproportionate burden of disease. of the public health sector alone. True and sustained
progress depends on building collaborative public
Collaborate across multiple sectors. Implementation and private sector partnerships to leverage resources
of the Road Map requires collaborations between toward accomplishing common Healthy Brain Initiative
the public health community and wide array of goals, promote widespread diffusion of an evidence-
organizations at national, state, and local levels and based model, or invest in capacity. Such resources
in both public and private sectors. The need for and can take many forms: physical, such as spaces,
value of such cross-sector collaboration has gained tools, and materials; financial, such as direct funding
increasing attention as an essential component of any or discounts; social, such as networks of people or
strategy for improving health and well-being. 12 organizations, norms, shared understanding, and
Yet much work remains to realize its potential. trust; and intellectual, such as data, skills, knowledge,
time, and competencies of stakeholders. The National
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture Academy of Medicine’s Vital Directions for Health
of Health Action Framework links cross-sector and Health Care calls for building collaborations to
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collaboration to making long-term gains in population mobilize resources for health improvement. Expanding
health. Key factors for effective and sustained cross- the range of existing and new resources not only
sector collaborations are: the number, breadth, and has synergistic benefits but also supports scales that
quality of cross-sector partnerships; the adequacy of would be beyond the reach of a single organization
investment in these partnerships; and the adoption of and helps ensure sustainability. •
policies needed to support them. 14 Thus, a deliberate
and coordinated approach to cognition and caregiving
would cultivate partnerships that transcend traditional
boundaries—especially between public health and
aging networks, employers, health systems, clinical
and community providers, community service
organizations, and faith-based and other spiritual
groups. Collaboration across programs focused on
prevention and management of specific diseases

12 Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018–2023 Road Map