Natural disasters, conflict and other emergencies force families in affected regions to face enormous, unexpected challenges. To help, governments, organizations and companies put a strong focus on meeting their urgent needs for food, water and shelter. But in the aftermath of crisis, many people struggle with managing, or preventing NCDs such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Despite a significant need for uninterrupted care, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases don’t receive enough attention in humanitarian settings, even though nearly three out of four deaths globally are caused by NCDs. A significant percentage of internally displaced people (IDPs) continue to be exposed to NCD risks such as unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. Women are disproportionately affected by emergencies.

CARE, Abbott and the Abbott Fund are partnering on one of the world’s first programs to address the prevention and care of noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings. This includes a focus on empowering women to lead the program locally. They hope this pilot model can serve as a model in other emergencies and non-emergency NCD scenarios.
 

Our Role: We partnered with BBC Storyworks to execute a few episodes of their series NCD Alliance. This series highlights the impactful and innovative work being carried out across the global health and development network to prevent and control NCDs.