From 30 November to 1 December 2015, RHD Action Alliance partner the World Heart Federation attended the ‘Dialogue on how to Strengthen International Cooperation on the Prevention and Control of NCDs’ at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. This discussion was part of the ongoing work of the WHO’s GCM-NCD programme (Global Coordinating Mechanism for NCDs), which was formed in 2014 to build on commitments made by Member States at the United Nations in 2011 and 2014.

The dialogue examined how NCD programmes could be integrated with other areas of development, identifying what needs to change in the SDG era for these programmes to be incorporated effectively into national plans.

Dr Gene Bukhman on RHD at the WHO GCM: RHD is ‘an extremely important issue for the poor’ @NCDSynergies @WHO pic.twitter.com/8RRKu3ohNo

— RHDAction (@RHDAction) December 1, 2015

There was a particular focus on inequities in the availability and accessibility of NCD prevention and treatment – Paurvi Bhatt of RHD Action Alliance partner Medtronic Philanthropy labelled such disparities ‘a postcode lottery’, while Gene Bukhman of Partners in Health added that rheumatic heart disease was an ‘extremely important issue for the poor’.

The dialogue concluded with agreement for greater integration of the prevention and control of NCDs with other disease programmes and sectors, and announced a virtual global discussion forum to continue the dialogue. The RHD Action Alliance looks forward to continuing to engage with World Health Organization to prioritise rheumatic heart disease in global efforts to reduce the burden of preventable NCDs.