NCDA Global Forum Sheds Light on Effective Governance and Accountability Policies to Tackle NCDs

Sharjah, 11 February, 2020

On the concluding day of the third edition of NCD Alliance Global Forum, experts,
policymakers, and leaders from the healthcare sector gathered to discuss practical and
workable solutions for effective global response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The day started with a plenary session initiated a dialogue around enhancing
accountability for all people with NCDs through transformative and inclusive
governance.

The session was chaired by Dr Douglas Webb, Team Leader, Health and Innovative
Financing at the HIV, Health and Development Group, United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), United States, and the keynote speech for the session was
delivered by Brenda Killen, Member of the Independent Accountability Panel for Every
Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent (IAP); Director of the Scaling Up Nutrition
(SUN) Movement Secretariat, Switzerland.

The speech was followed by panel discussion attended by Dr Beatriz Champagne,
Director of Advocacy, Inter-American Heart Foundation; Coordinator, Healthy Latin
America Coalition, Chair, Advocacy Committee, World Heart Federation, United States;
Professor Adnan Hyder Senior Associate Dean for Research, Professor of Global
Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, United
States; Pierre Cooke Jnr, Youth Technical Adviser, Healthy Caribbean Coalition;

Barbados National Youth Parliament, Barbados; and Dr Jayasree K Iyer, Executive
Director, Access to Medicines Foundation, Netherlands.

The Forum also hosted a number of workshops that highlighted various issues related
to NCDs, which are considered as one of the 21 st century most important heath and
development concerns.

Call for sustainable investments:
In a workshop titled ‘Sustainable investment, smarter financing for NCDs: The power of
civil society in driving change’ by Health Finance Institute, United Nations Development
Programme, Joep Lange Institute, and Framework Convention Alliance, the participants
explored how bridging the gap on NCDs will not be possible without addressing the
resource gap and advancing on sustainable financing for national responses.

It was attended by Bekki Field, Senior Programme Lead, International Cancer
Prevention Programme, Cancer Research UK, United Kingdom; Dr Andrea Feigl,
Executive Director, Health Finance Institute, United States; Dr Douglas Webb, Team
Leader, Health and Innovative Financing at the HIV, Health and Development Group,
United Nations Development Programme, United States; Leslie Rae Ferat, Managing
Director, Framework Convention Alliance, Canada; Femke Smeets, Head of Business
and Partnership Development, PharmAccess Group- Joep Lange Institute, Amsterdam;
Joshua Makubu, Advocacy Committee Member, Ghana Society of the Physically
Disabled; Our Views, Our Voices advocate, Ghana NCD Alliance, Ghana; and Ms Amy
Ndao Fall, Global Health Medical Lead for Africa, China & Emerging Markets GH
Medical Affairs, Sanofi, France.

Exploring the role of technology and media:
A workshop named ‘Partnering for impact in the SDG era: Saving lives through
equitable access to essential NCD medicines and technologies’ by NCD Alliance
Supporters Group, was attended by Dr Jayasree K Iyer, Executive Director, Access to
Medicines Foundation, Netherlands, Soraya Ramoul, Director, Global Access to Care,
Novo Nordisk, Denmark; Andrew Schroeder, Vice President of Research and Analysis,
Direct Relief, United States; Dr Gina Agiostratidou, Program Director, Type 1 Diabetes,
Helmsley Charitable Trust, United States; Dr Susanne Weissbäcker, Global Head of
Access to Medicines, Takeda, Singapore; Helen McGuire, Director, Noncommunicable
Diseases Programme, PATH, United States; and Dr Catherine Levy, Global NCD Lead,
Global Health, Sanofi, France.