"Integration science" for the NCDs and injuries of the poorest billion and UHC highlighted at PMAC event

The Program in Global NCDs and Social Change (PGNCDSC) at Harvard Medical School, Partners In Health, and the Helmsley Charitable Trust organized and hosted a side session at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in Bangkok on January 29 dedicated to Integration Science for Universal Health Coverage and the NCDs and injuries of the poorest billion.

The side meeting brought together leaders from national NCDI Poverty Commissions in low- and lower-middle-income countries, researchers, and global health policy experts to discuss how emerging theories of health system integration could be applied to address the NCDIs of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

Speakers at the event included Dr. Gene Bukhman (Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission Co-Chair and Director of both PGNCDSC and NCD Synergies); four national NCDI Poverty Commission representatives – Dr. Gladwell Gathecha (Kenya), Dr. Said Habib Arwal (Afghanistan), Dr. Yogesh Jain (India, and also a member of the global Lancet Commission), and Dr. Biraj Karmacharya (Nepal); experts on epidemiology and service delivery for severe NCDs, including Bent Lautrup-Nielsen of the World Diabetes Foundation, Ganesan Kathikeyan of Rheach, Dr. John Flanagan of the National Cancer Institute, and Pretima Persad of the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Crohn’s Disease program.