MSH's Douglas Keene, PharmD, MHS, Vice President, Pharmaceuticals & Health Technologies Group, was among the speakers at a recent event in Basel, Switzerland, hosted by Novartis [7], with representatives from NGOs, academia, and government discussing how to expand access to health in developing countries, including through the newly-launched program, Novartis Access [8].

MSH is partnering on Novartis Access [9] to help empower governments of low- and lower-middle-income countries to provide access to health for chronic diseases patients who need it most. Ensuring affordable and equitable access to medicines [10] is critical to achieving health for all -- and central to MSH's mission and health-systems strengthening approach.

Novartis launched [15] Novartis Access, a novel social business program, in collaboration with the Kenyan government, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), and other partners, on Thursday, October 15, at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

Novartis Access is an industry first [9]: “a novel social business model that aims to deliver affordable medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) also known as chronic disease in lower income countries”.

MSH’s partnership with Novartis, announced in September [16], is to enable governments in low- and middle- countries, beginning in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Vietnam, to provide better care for their chronic diseases population in need.

Kenyan Dignitaries Describe Country-Led Efforts on Chronic Diseases

The launch event kicked off October 15, at 10 am, East Africa Time, preceded by a tour of KNH. The launch was high level, graced by the presence of Kenyan dignitaries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) established a global monitoring framework for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) [19] at a Geneva meeting on November 9, 2012 --- a little over a year after the UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration on NCDs [20].

The chronic disease burden on low- and middle-income countries is vast: 28 million people in developing countries die annually from chronic diseases; yet, 8 million of these deaths are preventable.

The Washington Post Live panel [23] on October 17 featured high-level noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) experts from around the world discussing how to tackle the global epidemic of NCDs.

We've compiled key moments from the panelists in a "Storify" story, told through tweets.

The @PostLive [24] panel featured some twenty high-level chronic diseases experts from around the world discussing how to tackle the global epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

http://storify.com/MSHHealthImpact/washington-post-live-high-level-panel... [25]

It's been nearly two weeks since former President William J. Clinton closed the last session of the XIX International AIDS Conference [30] (AIDS 2012) and delegates returned home.

This year's conference featured commitment and calls for an AIDS-free generation, a growing interest in Option B+, and new research towards a cure.  Here are some reflections from what we learned at AIDS 2012, where we truly started "turning the tide together".

Clinton calls for a blueprint toward an AIDS-free generation

Secretary Hilary Rodham Clinton announced significant funding towards preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, South Africa’s plan for voluntary medical male circumcision, and money for “implementation research,” civil society, and country-led plans. Sec. Clinton also called on Ambassador Eric Goosby to provide a blueprint for achieving an AIDS-free generation during her plenary address [31]. Numerous other stakeholders echoed her commitment. But, if we really want to achieve an AIDS-free generation, the $7 billion funding gap that stands between where we are now, and where we should be, will need to be erased

The NCD Alliance announced [34] today that delegates at the 65th World Health Assembly are likely to pass a historic target on chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) tomorrow, May 26.

The NCD Alliance [35], a network of over 2,000 civil society organizations, including Management Sciences for Health, urged delegates [36] to "support comprehensive Global Monitoring Framework and Targets; support the establishment of a Global Coordinating Platform on NCDs; and put NCDs at the heart of the post-2015 development agenda."

The 65th World Health Assembly [39] is convening this week in Geneva, beginning May 21. For six days, the Assembly will focus the world’s attention on chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), universal health coverage, mental disorders, nutrition and adolescent pregnancy, among other health issues.

This is the second time in less than a year that chronic NCDs --- such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and lung diseases --- are in the international spotlight. Last fall, the High Level Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases [40] convened in New York, when, for only the second time in the history of the United Nations, a high level summit focused on a global health concern.

"On this World Cancer Day, we celebrate the remarkable progress in prevention, detection, care and treatment of cancer. Overall, treatment success has increased dramatically, with survival rates in high income countries like the U.S. now reaching over 90 percent for certain cancers such as breast, prostate, and testicular for patients with access to treatment. But this life-giving progress has yet to reach most of the world's people, who live in developing countries, where over half of new cases and nearly two thirds of all cancer deaths occur. Unforgivably, there is a huge "cancer divide" between rich and poor.

This year's World Cancer Day theme set by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) -- "together it is possible"-- calls on all individuals, organizations and governments to do their part to reduce premature deaths from cancers by 25 percent by 2025.

But there have been four myths that have held back cancer care and control in developing countries. On this World Cancer Day, let's start a global pink revolution to replace the myths with truths and the complacency with action."

 

Post updated February 2, 2012.

Mildred Akinyi had abdominal pain for some time before she attended a reproductive health workshop for HIV positive couples at Masafu Hospital in Uganda in July 2011.

“I always felt pain in my abdomen, and would take a lot of panadols to ease the pain. I did not know what was wrong with me," Akinyi said. "When I heard from the case manager at Masafu hospital that STAR-E had organized for women living with HIV and their partners to be screened for cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), I could not wait to use that chance to get checked.”

I am fortunate. I know this from years of experience of reporting about people who have poor or no access to quality health care, from rural areas of West Virginia to Afghanistan to Zambia. But today I feel this deeply, in large part because of an email that I just received.