Efforts to expand PEN-Plus across sub-Saharan Africa just received a major boost, as the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has announced a $9 million grant to the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa to expand care for people living with severe noncommunicable diseases.

The Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity has been named a WHO Collaborating Centre in recognition of its work in designing integrated care delivery systems for people living with severe noncommunicable diseases in extreme poverty.

The World Heart Federation has presented its Outstanding Contribution to Cardiovascular Health Award to Drs. Gene Bukhman and Ana Mocumbi, co-chairs of the NCDI Poverty Network. The presentation took place in May at the World Heart Awards ceremony in Geneva.

“Where a child lives should not determine whether a child lives,” declared Dr. Apoorva Gomber, associate advocacy director for the NCDI Poverty Network. “And yet children with type 1 diabetes in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa often die within a year of diagnosis. This reality is morally unconscionable.” Dr. Gomber delivered those statements at the Multi-Stakeholder Hearing on Universal Health Coverage, held on May 9 in the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Type 1 diabetes, sickle cell disease, and rheumatic and congenital heart disease. In the United States, if people with any of these diseases walk through a hospital’s doors, they can get treated. Their treatment is typically swift and, by and large, effective. Yet, in low-income nations, these conditions can be a death sentence. Gene Bukhman, executive director of the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity, talks about how the center works bridge this gap by bringing health coverage to those living in extreme poverty.