Voices of the Health Revolution is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Find out more at https://actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Voices of the Health Revolution - Invest to Protect

Invest to Protect

Lack of resources and investment in NCD prevention and care is costing the world millions of lives and dollars each year. Yet, there are powerful and cost-effective actions that countries can take to turn the tide on NCDs. In this interview, NCD Alliance CEO Katie Dain shares her views and expertise on how we can close global health’s biggest funding gap. She reveals why investment in NCD prevention and control is the world’s biggest opportunity to save lives and money by 2030.

'Voices of the Health Revolution' is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Find out more at https://actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Katie Dain: The worlds best ever investment opportunity?

Invest to Protect

Sugary drinks are a major driver of the global epidemic of chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes. One way to keep consumption under control is through fiscal policies like taxes on these health harming beverages. Francine Charles from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Barbados was at the frontline of the effort to move the Barbados sugary drinks tax increase forward. In this interview, she explains how they did it and how they are now working to see the implementation of diverse healthy food policies to reduce chronic disease and build a healthier population.

'Voices of the Health Revolution' is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Find out more at https://actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Francine Charles: Health policy victory is sweet in Barbados

Invest to Protect

South Africa recently launched The National Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, 2022-2027. Dr. Vicki Pinkney-Atkinson is Director of the South African NCD Alliance, which worked with the government over eight years to complete the document. In this interview she describes how difficult it was for people living with NCDs to have their voices heard when the new plan was being prepared and the challenges facing its implementation, including lack of resources. She also stresses that NCD activists were determined to followed the path made by the HIV/AIDs movement.

'Voices of the Health Revolution' is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Find out more at https://actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Vicki Pinkney-Atkinson: A landmark plan for chronic diseases in South Africa

Invest to Protect

People-centred healthcare occurs when people, not their conditions, are placed at the heart of health services, programmes and policies. In this episode, Johanna Ralston, CEO of World Obesity Federation, and former CEO of the World Heart Federation, speaks to her experiences of living with noncommunicable diseases for over 30 years. From being silent about her experience at the very beginning, to learning to speak and leverage the platforms around her, Johanna's journey has brought her to advocate for the meaningful involvement of the lived experience in decision-making. Johanna – a leader in the global NCD movement – talks about the improvements in resourcing and prioritisation of NCDs in the policy landscape, but she also knows we’ve still a long way to go.

'Voices of the Health Revolution' is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Find out more at https://actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Johanna Ralston: My NCD story, Our NCD story

Efforts to make people worldwide more physically active have stumbled. Five years ago the world’s countries adopted the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA). But putting it in place “has been slow and uneven, resulting in little progress towards increasing population levels of physical activity… and a reversal of progress in several key areas,” says a new WHO progress report . One of the main issues is that governments’ efforts often are not well coordinated, says Fiona Bull, Acting Director and Programme Manager in the Department of Prevention of NCDs, in this episode of Voices of the health revolution. Ways to get the GAPPA back on its feet include investing in “health-enabling environments” so that individuals aren’t left on their own to become more physically active, and supporting governments to take broad-based actions that encompass other ministries beyond those responsible for health and physical activity.

'Voices of the Health Revolution' is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Find out more at actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Fiona Bull: Motivating a population to move

The number of people displaced by natural disasters, conflict and other factors continues to grow. In 2023, 299 million people needed humanitarian assistance and protection, (10% more than at the end of 2022, according to the Global Humanitarian Overview 2024). Many of them are living with noncommunicable diseases, or NCDs, but until recently their specific needs were virtually ignored in planning for disaster relief and recovery. That is slowly changing.

From 27 to 29 February, UN Member States will meet at the Global high-level technical meeting on noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings. Organised by the World Health Organization and the UN refugee agency, the closed meeting in Copenhagen will assemble NCD, emergency, refugee, and health systems experts, along with UN agencies, academic bodies and non-state actors, all dedicated to strengthening the integration of NCDs in humanitarian responses.

Ahead of the meeting, NCD Alliance published the briefing paper, Neglected and in crisis: NCDs as a priority in humanitarian settings, which contains many recommendations on improving how NCDs can be better included in humanitarian responses. Today, we’re speaking with two people who will be closely watching the results of that meeting. Dr Catherine Karekezi is the executive director of the NCD Alliance Kenya, and Megan Sheridan is the Programme Manager of the Global Oncology Network of the US-based organisation Direct Relief.


'Voices of the Health Revolution' is a podcast series that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers who are leading bold action to protect our universal right to health - even when that means taking a stand against the big industries who threaten it.

Discover more about the Global Week for Action on NCDs: actonncds.org
#ActOnNCDs

Integrating NCDs in humanitarian settings

NCD Alliance