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NCD Project | Health checkups during CRP (community resource person) reviews, India, 16.03.2021 |© FIND & MYRADA/Shivram Manthena
©FIND & MYRADA/Shivram Manthena

Non-communicable Diseases

We are working to prevent premature mortality due to NCDs, by increasing the availability, affordability and uptake of essential diagnostics for diabetes and other cardiometabolic conditions.

NCDs are the world’s leading cause of death.

Over three-quarters of all NCD deaths, including 85% of those classified as ‘premature’, happen in low- and middle-income countries.

Every year, NCDs are responsible for the loss of 41 million lives. Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are responsible for almost 50% of all NCD deaths.

41 million

people lose their life because of NCDs every year

Almost 50%

of NCD deaths are due to CVD and diabetes

1 in 3 people

with diabetes in low- and middle-income countries has never had their blood glucose measured

We are focused on primary healthcare and self-monitoring in LMICs, working with communities, healthcare professionals, developers and manufacturers to identify and address key barriers to access to diabetes testing and monitoring.

Beatrice Vetter

Director, NCD Programme

Early detection and management can avoid long-term complications and reduce the health and economic burden of these chronic conditions. But high costs and supply barriers mean that essential tests and diagnostic tools are inaccessible in many low- and middle-income countries, leaving primary healthcare facilities and people living with NCDs ill-equipped to address basic testing and monitoring needs.

Access to community- and home-based monitoring technologies for disease management is also limited. For example, only 48% of low-income countries report blood glucose measurement technology as being ‘generally available’, and one in every three people with diabetes in low- and middle-income countries has never had their blood glucose measured at all. Increasing access to diagnostics for these conditions is an integral part of the strategy to meet the WHO 2030 target of reducing risk of overall mortality from NCDs by 25%.

Strategy rationale, why is this important?

Top 4 Non-communicable diseases

Global targets for 2030Diagnostic barriers
Top 4 NCDsDiagnostics exist but are too expensive for out-of-pocket payment and/or government commitment
  • 25% reduction in relative mortality by 2025

  • 80% availability of basic NCD technologies
PHC and self-test equipment for basic NCD diagnosis and chronic management is incomplete
DiabetesChronic management requires access to higher levels of care, leading to gaps in the care cascade
  • 80% with diabetes diagnosed

  • 80% have good glycemic control

  • 100% with T1 have access to affordable insulin and glucose self-monitoring
DM – diabetes mellitus; HTN – hypertension; PHC – primary health care

Around 1 out of 2 people with diabetes or hypertension are undiagnosed in LMICs

Workstreams

We identified three workstreams for our programme:
The 3 workstream of our Non-communicable disease health programme

Working with partners we will deliver:

What we deliver working with partners

Published material: improve affordability (WS1)

    Published material: advance technology (WS2)

    HbA1c – Diabetes:
    Landscape of HbA1c point-of-care testing devices - Landscape report, November 2021

    Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices (CGMs) – Diabetes:
    Products for monitoring glucose levels in the human body with noninvasive optical, noninvasive fluid sampling, or minimally invasive technologies - Scientific paper, 13 June 2021
    Use of continuous glucose monitors in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review - Scientific paper, 16 March 2023
    Performance assessment of three continuous glucose monitoring systems in adults with type 1 diabetes - Scientific paper, 22 February 2023

    Cardiometabolic platforms & hypertension:
    Landscape of point-of-care devices for testing of cardiometabolic diseases - Landscape report, 28 February 2020
    Development of a target product profile for a point-of-care cardiometabolic device - TTP report, October 2021
    Validation of blood pressure devices as per 2020 World Health Organization technical specifications: a scoping review of global literature - Scientific paper, 13 March 2023

    General fit-for-purpose assessment of NCD tools:
    Technologies for diabetes self-monitoring: a scoping review and
    assessment using the REASSURED criteria     - Scientific paper, 9 March 2021
    Diagnostics and monitoring tools for noncommunicable diseases: a missing component in the global response - Scientific paper, 9 March 2021

    Published material: strengthen care cascade (WS3)

      Published material: advocacy

        ACCEDE logo

        The ACCEDE project

        The ACCEDE (ACcess to CGMs for Equity in DiabEtes management) project aims to support the introduction of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) for people living with diabetes in Kenya and South Africa.

        Learn more on the project Press release

        NCD coffee chats

        To mark the launch of our NCD programme, we are bringing together leaders, experts, and advocates to explore the multiple facets of diagnostics for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), through a series of four coffee conversation videos.