ISN President Encourages Patient-Centric NCD Policies
ISN President, Vivekanand Jha, spoke at the online event “Leaving No-one Behind: The Need for a Person-Centred, Inclusive NCD Agenda Confirmation” organized by the NCD Alliance on November 5, 2020.
This roundtable event focused on the challenges of the current NCD response and key opportunities and solutions to go beyond a siloed NCD agenda, notably by putting first people living with NCDs and creating inclusive policy and health system structures at national and global levels.
Prof. Jha highlighted the importance of including patient views, particularly their lived experience, in planning new policies to tackle NCDs. In many countries, there is a considerable lack of data. Therefore, it is essential to collect evidence to present solutions to decision-makers that correspond to their region’s available resources.
He went on to discuss the significant effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on healthcare systems and people suffering from kidney diseases, highlighting the positive impact of the increased use of telemedicine and the need to develop home-based treatments. He concluded by stressing the importance of preparedness by including NCD treatment and care in future pandemic planning and the need for civil society to be involved in shaping both donor and state spending to tackle the burden of common causes of premature death and disability.
