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Key Lessons in Advancing Access to NCD Care:

Create, Collaboration, Connectivity, Community

Welcome

Since its launch in 2017, Access Accelerated has been at the forefront of efforts to tackle the worldwide challenge posed by noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their impact on economic and social progress in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across the globe.

Our partnership, representing the global biopharmaceutical and life sciences industry, is unprecedented. Never before has the industry come together in such a concerted way to embark on a common mission designed to help realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the aim of reducing, by 2030, premature deaths from NCDs by one third and achieving Health for All.

To realize this vision, we have worked collectively — pooling our learnings, experience, knowledge, skills, and resources — to drive multisectoral partnerships that bring about real and lasting change in how we respond to NCDs. At the heart of this endeavor has been a recognition that no one organization or government can achieve this on its own.

That is why local engagement is central to our collaborations. Through support for governments, national stakeholders, and civil society in their efforts, countries are delivering scalable, sustainable solutions that are firmly embedded within national health agendas and systems. Such collective efforts have brought about fundamental policy changes, strengthened health care systems, generated vital funding and investment, and ultimately given those living with NCDs a better chance to live longer, fuller, healthier lives.

After all, people living with NCDs are at the heart of Access Accelerated. By investing in initiatives that help to empower them, we ensure that it is their experiences, needs, and hopes that inform the NCD response. Their voices are crucial for effective and sustainable change.

Access Accelerated stands as a testament to the effectiveness of collaboration in making a lasting difference to the health and lives of people living with NCDs and those who support them. It has been a formidable task and we understand that, even after six years of learning and progress, much remains to be done.

This report represents more than a celebration of our collective efforts: it is a powerful call to action to take all that we have learned over the past six years and use it to build momentum, leverage opportunities for impact, and strengthen action. Our present and future success depends on it.

FOREWORD

Underlying our work at Access Accelerated is a commitment to supporting the goals set forth by the United Nations to promote global peace, prosperity, and progress. In particular, the target to reduce premature deaths from NCDs and to achieve Health for All by 2030. With less than seven years to go, this deadline is fast approaching.

MARTIN BERNHARDT

Former Director, Access Accelerated

Investment and Reach Block

Investment And Reach In 2022

By Access Acclerated Partners

0

700

Million

Number of people covered

0

37

Number of countries

1.6 billion

USD

Investment leveraged

0

145

Number of countries

0

172

Number of programs

0

31

NCDs addressed

A NOTE FROM OUR PARTNERS

The world is facing a cascade of global crises. Among them is the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which is often not only overshadowed but exacerbated by other global challenges. Yet the reality is that NCDs pose a serious and growing threat to economies, health systems and health equity, particularly in LMICs, where people are twice as likely to die from these conditions.

ACTIONS, OUTCOMES AND IMPACT

In 2022, Access Accelerated partners pursued 54 projects in 37 countries, covering all regions around the world. Nine projects had a global scope and eight projects worked at regional level. These projects reached over 700 million people. In 2022 over 21 million people were screened for a risk factor related to NCDs, over 11 million people were diagnosed, and over 3.5 million people received treatments.

These numbers show remarkable increases compared to 2021 figures: the number of people diagnosed increased by a factor of 1178, while the number of people screened and receiving treatment respectively increased by 1505% and 1140%.

In 2022 partners leveraged over 1.6 billion USD, totalling nearly 3.7 billion USD through the second phase of Access Accelerated (2020-2022). Moreover, partners developed over 200 knowledge products in 2022. These knowledge products supported the training of 5,644 people in 2022.

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STORIES FROM PARTNERS

Quantified results from both 2022 and cumulatively through the second phase of Access Accelerated tell the story of sustained efforts across six years of partnership. No impact would be possible without the strategic partners organizations’ commitments to working hand in hand with local governments and stakeholders, nor without their dedication to developing programs that are sensitive and responsive to people’s and countries’ needs. The story of 2022 and phase 2 achievements testify to partners’ creation of connective tissue in their zeal to see improved NCD outcomes for all.

Access Accelerated partners achieved tangible and important contributions to the initiative’s goals. The stories in the report highlight how these have been made possible.

KEY LEARNINGS

Access Accelerated is one of a limited number of partnerships with an exclusive focus on NCDs. As such, it is a pioneering effort in paving the way for engagement with the private sector to address complex, systems-wide health issues. Access Accelerated provides evidence that stakeholders in the biopharmaceutical and life science industry can set aside competing interests to unite for a common vision to address NCDs, serving as an example of how the private sector can become a meaningful actor in processes of change towards shared societal goals.

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1

Open, transparent communication and measurement are essential to capture intangible impacts

2

Flexible, non-competing and long-term funding offers a unique opportunity to develop locally-embedded solutions

3

New ways of addressing diseases are possible and necessary, especially to achieve broader health goals

4

Community- and patient-centric approaches are essential to sustainability

5

Change takes time

THE FUTURE OF MEASURING COLLECTIVE IMPACT

Measurement is critical to extracting knowledge and driving system-level change that will improve the NCD landscape. From an operational perspective, it provides an indication of the effectiveness and health of a multisectoral collaboration, exposing what is going well and which areas need course-correcting.

Stories From the Ground

Patient-Centricity is Key

CHRISTOPHER AGBEGA

Patient advocate

Though Chris was 16 when the first symptoms started to appear, it would take another nine years until he was formally diagnosed with Hereditary Motor Sensory Neuropathy, aged 25. The rare disease, also known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, is an inherited, progressive disease of the nerves resulting in sensory loss, muscle weakness, and atrophy.

Today, through the NCD Alliance and its program Our Views, Our Voices, Chris is a passionate advocate for young people living with hereditary conditions, channeling his lived experience towards empowering the patient community and demanding stronger action on NCDs.

My symptoms started when I was around 16. I could still walk around, but I was starting to get tired very quickly. As time went on, I began to get weaker, needing a walking stick, and then a Zimmer frame. It was a very challenging time, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally; as a very active teenager with newfound independence, there was so much anger and confusion about what was happening to me. I went from one doctor to the next and none of them really understood what was going on.

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Stories From the Ground

INVOLVING PEOPLE LIVING WITH NCDS

Dr. Catherine Karekezi

Executive Director, NCD Alliance Kenya

The Non-communicable Diseases Alliance Kenya (NCDAK) unites organizations led by persons living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), NGOs, and professional associations to advocate for and support individuals living with or at risk of NCDs in Kenya.

Catherine Karekezi, the organization’s Executive Director, is passionate about involving individuals living with NCDs in advocacy efforts across the country, as well as partnering with the Ministry of Health to create a greater ripple effect and to continually push the NCD agenda forward.

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Stories From the Ground

SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE

Labram Musah

National Coordinator, Ghana NCD Alliance

Access Accelerated supports the NCD Alliance to elevate the voices of people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), building on our shared commitment to meaningfully involve those affected in the creation of sustainable solutions. Labram Musah, the National Coordinator of the Ghana NCD Alliance shares how the NCD Alliance’s Our Views, Our Voices initiative training model has boosted advocacy efforts to help policy makers in the country see a more complete picture of the needs of individuals living with NCDs, and how they hope to scale-up this important tool.

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Stories From the Ground

PRIORITIZING NCDS TO ADVANCE UHC

Dr. Hajime Inoue

Advisor, Health Nutrition and Population program, World Bank Group

Achieving healthcare for all requires leaning into a strong NCD response. Over the last six years, Access Accelerated and the World Bank Group have worked together to advance sustainable and scalable solutions to NCD prevention treatment, and care.

World Bank advisor, Dr. Hajime Inoue, discusses the need to incorporate NCD care in the UHC agenda if we are to achieve equitable and resilient healthcare systems, and how his formative experience as a doctor was invaluable in shaping and informing his role as an advocate for UHC.

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Stories From the Ground

DISSEMINATING CVD GUIDELINES IN KENYA

Dr. Lilian Mbau

CEO, Kenyan Cardiac Society

In 2018, Kenya’s Ministry of Health (MOH) spearheaded the development of national guidelines for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) to provide a standardized way of managing heart health in the country.

With the support of Access Accelerated and the World Heart Federation, the Kenya Cardiac Society (KCS) joined forces with the MOH to disseminate the guidelines to healthcare facilities across Kenya.

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Stories From the Ground

POTENTIAL OF COLLECTIVE IMPACT

Kyle Peterson

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Boldly Go Philathropy

Boldly Go Philanthropy helps companies and foundations around the world maximize their philanthropic efforts. Co-founder and managing director, Kyle Peterson explains why connectivity and infrastructure are key to coordinating action and making an impact – especially when confronting a problem as complex as NCDs.

Below, he sheds light on the changing landscape of partnerships, and why the Access Accelerated model is the way forward in bringing about systems-level change.

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Stories From the Ground

PEOPLE CENTERED APPROACH TO NCDS

Dr. Truong Dinh Bac

Deputy Director General of the General Department of Preventative Medicines Ministry of Health, Vietnam

Dr. Truong Dinh Bac is helping to lead efforts in Vietnam to combat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including hypertension and diabetes.

With an estimated half of the affected population unaware of their conditions, Vietnam’s leaders are taking crucial steps to address this gap by uniting efforts with community volunteers and health care professionals to deliver innovative, people-centered solutions to NCD prevention and management.

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Stories From the Ground

FUTURE SCIENCE OF COLLECTIVE IMPACT

Emma Ross

Senior Research Fellow, Global Health Programme Chatham House

Expanding access to healthcare is a complex challenge requiring a whole-of-society approach, too large for either the public or the private sector to solve alone. In recent years, the appreciation and appetite for partnership and cooperation has deepened as the value of this approach has become more apparent. We’ve seen a shift away from siloed efforts toward cross-sector collaborations as a mechanism to address global health issues, especially the burden of noncommunicable diseases.

The emergence of multistakeholder cooperation across diverse sectors has brought a growing recognition that we need more sustainable ways of partnering if we are to effect long-lasting impact.

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Stories From the Ground

REACHING HEARTS AND CHANGING MINDS

Jean-Luc Eiselé

CEO, World Heart Federation

Cardiovascular health is embedded in a much broader context of societal, environmental, and commercial factors. Unless these interconnections are better understood, dealing with CVDs in isolation is likely to fail.

Elements such as climate change, the way we produce and consume food, the quality of the air we breathe and of the water we drink are all part of our vision of healthy hearts and a healthy planet.

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"A concentrated effort to listen and work with stakeholders maintained our focus on sustainable innovations that make a difference for people living with NCDs."

Helen McGuire

Global NCD Program Leader, PATH

That mutual trust and co-creation with Access Accelerated. Having them on that innovation journey with us, allowed us to do something which is new but also very practical.

Jade Chakowa

Head of Effectiveness and Impact, City Cancer Challenge Foundation

Organizing the private sector as a cohesive group rather than competing voices has helped advance this shared agenda for NCDs. Engaging with different key stakeholders like governments and presenting as a unified, cohesive front has really promoted the whole-of-society approach

Cristina Parsons Perez

Capacity Development Director, NCD Alliance

Projects supported in 2022

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COLOMBIA

"Information is powerful. Through the Act with a Woman’s Heart project, women who were largely unaware of CVD risk factors were armed with knowledge and tools to help them make more informed decisions for their health and the health of their families."

Prof Pablo Perel, Senior Science Advisor World Heart Federation

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GHANA

"The Ghana Advocacy Agenda has formed the foundation for the Ghana NCD Alliance’s call for stronger NCD prevention and control in the country, higher taxes on unhealthy commodities to fund the National Health Insurance Scheme and integration of NCDs in UHC frameworks."

Mr. Christopher Agbega, Patient Advocate, Ghana NCD Alliance

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VIETNAM

"The Communities for Healthy Vietnam program is rooted in community engagement and patient empowerment. We are meeting people where they live and work for screening and utilizing innovative approaches to increase the availability and continuity of hypertension and diabetes care."

Dr Hien Le NCD Program Director, PATH

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X

KENYA

"For NCDs like cancer, you don’t see the benefit right away, so it’s important for everyone to have a common understanding and a shared vision and goal. It was important to work with organizations which are a critical part of the local community. By building up this trust and giving them room to implement the program, the pilot was embedded at the community level, and solutions could reflect the local needs and realities."

Dr Kenneth Munge Kabubei, Health Economist, World Bank

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X

EUROPE

"Successfully addressing the needs of patients requires shifting towards patient-centered care, facilitating integration between health and other sectors and developing local solutions to patient needs. We hope that by bringing together experts and practitioners that ministries across the region will be inspired by the innovations and ideas that they can adopt to support their populations."

Dr. Anna Koziel, Senior Health Specialist and co-Task Team Leader for the Regional NCD program in ECA World Bank

THE ROAD AHEAD

As Access Accelerated approaches the end of its second phase, looking back at what has been accomplished over six years of partnership enables us to look ahead. The model of Access Accelerated has presented a united, cohesive front for the private sector to engage in NCD action. As the initiative has matured over time, not only has it attracted and leveraged new investments from stakeholders in the life sciences industry, but it also catalyzed investments. This increased funding for NCDs represents a fundamental shift in global attention.

Beyond funding, Access Accelerated has presented a unique opportunity to align multiple actors under one shared goal. At the core of this has been concerted action to create solutions that address people’s and countries’ NCD needs. This patient-centricity and context-specific approach serves as a proof of concept on how working with local stakeholders enables projects to become locally embedded. As NCD programming continues to proliferate, it is essential that a similar approach, responsive to local needs, continues as a best practice model.

Access Accelerated has also paved the way for new modes of thinking about NCD programming. Siloed and fragmented approaches still permeate the life sciences industry and global health thinking, and moreover, programming does not always measure NCD-related benefits. Access Accelerated gave freedom to its strategic partners to not only think creatively about how and why NCDs ought to be integrated with universal health coverage and primary health care, but it has also offered a way of capturing impacts that extend beyond the hard numbers. This has the potential to transform our approaches to measurement, recognizing the vast impact that local engagement, trust, and social capital can bring to improved NCD outcomes over longer periods of time.

Initiatives in global health can look to Access Accelerated programming for inspiration on how to move towards a more transversal, horizontal approach to health that involves people living with NCDs. As donors, actors and initiatives evolve and change, institutionalizing this approach will continue to serve social needs. Lastly, the lessons from Access Accelerated showcase how growth in expertise, competencies, and networks can be catalyzed when actors work together. As actors join in NCD action, having a sense that more can be accomplished by working together will remain essential to seeing remarkable results similar to those accomplished through Access Accelerated.

Initiatives like Access Accelerated are groundbreaking in their ability to create tangible examples of collaboration, especially where there is a lack of concerted action, such as in the case of NCDs. The deeply transformative, creative, and nimble approaches pioneered through the consortium remain a testament to the power of joining forces to address societal challenges and the long-term commitment needed to create sustainable change.