Leaving no one behind: New partnership to promote a broader NCD agenda
31st March 2020
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The NCD Alliance (NCDA) is pleased to announce a new partnership with Takeda to improve access and availability of care for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) within the context of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), promoting the priorities and involvement of people living with more neglected and rarer NCDs.
NCDs are the world’s biggest killer and cause of disability with 41 million people dying every year, hitting lower- and middle-income countries the hardest. While NCD incidence keeps rising globally, major inequalities persist in terms of access to treatment and health systems remain ill-equipped to deal with the growing NCD burden imposing financial burden on those affected, their families, and national economies as well.
The global NCD response has focused primarily on four risk factors and four major diseases – cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases – and since 2018, mental health has also been added as a core component, reflecting a shift by WHO towards a more inclusive ‘5x5’ approach.
Whilst this was a welcome step forward, more action is needed to integrate other often neglected NCDs – such as gastroenterological, neurological, autoimmune, and genetic conditions – into policies and care packages to meet the needs of people and to better respond to multi-morbidity, which is now becoming the norm rather than the exception.
By partnering together, the NCD Alliance and Takeda will seek to develop a better understanding of the needs and priorities of people living with these neglected NCDs in low- and middle-income countries, to help shape effective policies, responsive health systems and access to quality care. In addition to facilitating a global dialogue on these issues, the partnership will build upon the NCD Alliance’s Our Views, Our Voices initiative, which seeks to promote the voices and meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs at all levels of the NCD response, from policy development, advocacy, healthcare design and delivery, and accountability.
Katie Dain, CEO of the NCD Alliance, said “the global political momentum on Universal Health Coverage provides an opportunity for governments to pivot health systems to the needs and priorities of their populations. Understanding priorities and barriers to care for people living with NCDs, particularly those living with too often neglected conditions, will help support this goal. We are looking forward to joining forces with Takeda and leveraging our strengths to put people at the centre of policies and health systems”.
“At Takeda we take a strategic approach to partnerships by working with organisations who have the knowledge, skill-set and in-country expertise to jointly work towards strengthening health systems in low-and-middle income countries. Our partnership with the NCD Alliance will look to address the rarer NCDs and help to foster important dialogues with patient groups and international organisations to look at the significant challenges in addressing patient access. We are excited for this collaboration which will strengthen our commitment to drive long-term impact for patients at every stage of the patient journey” said Dr Susanne Weissbaecker, Takeda’s Global Head of Access to Medicines.
About Takeda
Takeda is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). They also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. They are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Their employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.
For more information on Takeda please visit takeda.com
