As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world, countries across the African continent with already severely under-resourced health systems are likely to suffer a significant impact. Through disruption of health services, the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the failure of the vast majority of governments to adequately guarantee the health of their citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic has also accentuated a crisis that has been decades in the making: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). In many African countries, the deadly collision of NCDs with COVID-19 and other communicable diseases threatens to leave a legacy of long-lasting impacts, which will exacerbate inequalities, potentially risking economic and political stability. It has also heightened the vulnerability of people living with NCDs (PLWNCDs) who are at substantially higher risk of becoming severely ill or dying from the virus and likely to be experiencing obstacles to managing their conditions on a daily basis, due to health systems buckling under the pressure of COVID-19.
As the pandemic takes hold, it is key to ensure a vibrant and strong NCD civil society movement to maintain political and media attention to the needs of these vulnerable groups and enable the adoption of an NCD lens to COVID-19 at the global level to protect and support PLWNCDs worldwide.
On the occasion of Ecobank Day and building on the momentum of the Global Week for Action on NCDs that took place September, the NCD Alliance and the Ecobank Foundation have joined forces to raise awareness of the scale, impact and urgency of NCDs in Africa, highlight and support the critical role of society organisations and community-led efforts in accelerating action from local to global levels, and strengthen political commitment on the urgency to invest into robust and resilient health systems. This event will also be the opportunity for the launch of the BBC StoryWorks and NCDA Turning the Tide on NCDs series in Africa.
When
Wednesday, 11 November 2020 at 10:00-11:30 GMT (London, UK)
Welcome address
- Ms Katie Dain, CEO, NCD Alliance (United Kingdom)
Keynote speaker
- Mr Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (Togo)
Launch of Turning The Tide on NCDs Series in Africa
- Mrs Gemma Jennings, Partner Manager, BBC World News
Panel :
- Prof. Jean-Marie Dangou, Coordinator/Team leader, NCDs, WHO AFRO (Congo)
- Prof. Jacko R Abodo, MD, Chair-Elect IDF AFRICA region, Chair of NCD Alliance Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Mr. George Kwayu, Chairman of the Tanzanian Diabetes Youth Alliance, living with Type 1 (Tanzania)
- Ms. Aminatou Sar, West Africa Regional Hub and Senegal Country Director, PATH (Senegal)
- Prof. Sani Malami, Past Chair, NCD Alliance Nigeria (Nigeria)
- Dr Tolu Oni, Global Diet and Activity Research Group, University of Cambridge (Cameroon)
Closing remarks
Mr Carl Manlan, COO, Ecobank Foundation (Togo)