The World Health Organization will launch a commission on social connection, “the first global initiative to tackle the epidemic of loneliness,” the group’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced Wednesday.
The group—to be led by co-chairs U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Chido Mpemba, youth envoy at the African Union Commission—will work to understand the health risks of social isolation and effective solutions, Ghebreyesus said. It will be comprised of 11 "leading policymakers, thought leaders, and advocates," including Murthy and Mpemba, and run for three years, according to the WHO. Its first meeting will be held Dec. 6-8, and a report will be released in about a year and a half.
