NCDI Poverty Network

10/09/2026

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr.Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will be a keynote speaker at the Third Symposium on Integration Science, Oct. 27 in Boston and online.

A trained medical doctor and a national and global leader for more than 30 years, Dr. Nishtar has served as a senator in her home country of Pakistan, as special assistant to the prime minister on social protection and poverty alleviation, and as a federal minister with responsibility for re-establishing Pakistan’s Ministry of Health.

Dr. Nishtar has also fulfilled several leadership positions in civil society and international organizations; founded a nonprofit health reform think tank in Pakistan; coauthored dozens of academic papers and books; and published in leading newspapers.

A graduate of Khyber Medical College and King's College London, she has received many international awards and honors, including, in 2020, being named among the 100 most inspiring and influential women around the world by the BBC.

At the Symposium, she'll share thoughts on planning, prioritization, and financing in the shifting political landscape of global health. She'll also discuss how delivery models and social movements have reinforced each other in practice, and why sustained investment across every lever remains essential, including domestic and external financing, philanthropy, and the private sector.

Learn more and register to attend the symposium in person or online: https://centerforintegrationscience.org/third-symposium-integration-science/

10/08/2026

The NCD world has lost a true champion, and we share in the mourning of partners around the globe. At the NCDI Poverty Network, we loved and cherished Ato Wondu, our leader and mentor in Ethiopia. He was a tireless advocate for those living with cancer and other NCDs, especially women and children. We learned so much from you, Ato Wondu. You will always be remembered.

Mathiwos Wondu Foundation

It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Mr. Wondu Bekele Woldemariam, Founder and Chief Executive Director of the Mathiwos Wondu Foundation, who passed away today after a brave battle with cancer. Details regarding the funeral arrangements will be shared shortly.

10/02/2026

What could global health achieve if it stopped organizing itself along traditional lines? That question is at the heart of the Third Symposium on Integration Science, October 27 in Boston, hosted by the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity.

Join us in person or online for this groundbreaking event featuring an incredible lineup of speakers and panelists, with a musical performance and reception, at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center on the urban campus of Harvard Medical School.

Learn more, view the speaker list and register: https://centerforintegrationscience.org/third-symposium-integration-science/





Speaker and participant affiliations include:
Eli Lilly and Company
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Kyler Cares
University of Washington
University of Vermont
Kathmandu University
Indiana University
Harvard Medical School
endTB

09/30/2026

It’s been an incredible three days of in-depth discussions, progress and planning with leadership from World Health Organization African Region, who are visiting the Network in Boston at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Partnerships are the foundation of and integrated care for young people living with NCDs including type 1 , disease and childhood-onset heart disease. With collaborations like this, the sky is the limit for what we can do together to bring care closer to home for thousands of young people across sub-Saharan Africa.

09/11/2026

Powerful work this week by Hellen Adhiambo, a member of our Voices for PEN-Plus team and founder of the Lending HANDS Initiative, a patient-led organization that supports children living with sickle cell disease in Kenya. Learn more about Hellen and her fellow Voices advocates: https://www.ncdipoverty.org/blog/new-voices-additions

09/04/2026

Advocacy for stronger health systems has been on all of our minds during this Global Week for Action on NCDs -- and we had the honor of seeing advocacy begin for many young warriors last month during Camp Wanwod in Bo, Sierra Leone.

In addition to health education, music, art and recreation, warriors at camp - who live with either type 1 diabetes or sickle cell disease - also participated in sessions about advocacy, and about using their voices, their stories and their power to create positive change.

Because PEN-Plus is a model powered by movements.

No one should die from a treatable NCD because essential medicines or diagnostic tests are unavailable - whether insulin for diabetes, hydroxyurea for sickle cell disease, or other lifesaving tools for people living with severe, chronic conditions.

Together, we all can .

See more moments from Camp Wanwod in this photo gallery, and as always, keep following along to learn more.



Doctors with Africa CUAMM
Sonia Nabeta Foundation
PIH Sierra Leone
Music Heals Initiative Sierra Leone

Witness the joy of Camp Wanwↄd, a PEN-Plus camp recently held for young people living with either type 1 diabetes or sickle cell disease in Sierra Leone.

09/03/2026

No one should die from a treatable NCD because essential medicines or diagnostic tests are unavailable -- whether insulin for diabetes, hydroxyurea for sickle cell disease, or other lifesaving tools for people living with severe, chronic noncommunicable diseases.

As part of the Global Week for Action on NCDs, the NCDI Poverty Network is calling for greater investment in the medicines, diagnostics, procurement systems, and supply chains that help make quality care possible.

Because PEN-Plus is a model powered by movements, building global solidarity for integrated NCD care.

Together, we all can

Learn more with our 2025-28 Strategic Plan: https://www.ncdipoverty.org/strategic-plan-2025-2028

09/02/2026

The NCDI Poverty Network works with governments and partners implementing PEN-Plus to improve access to insulin, hydroxyurea, HbA1c testing, sickle cell diagnostics, and more lifesaving medicines and technologies for people living with severe, chronic noncommunicable diseases.

During the third annual ICPPA in June, and during this Global Week for Action on NCDs, it's clear that better procurement, stronger supply chains, and smarter policies save lives.

Read on to learn how cabinet-level ministries from eight countries attended ICPPA in Tanzania, showing the growing governmental commitment and momentum for integrated care across sub-Saharan Africa.

Together, we all can .

The Third International Conference on PEN-Plus in Africa reflected a key advancement in the PEN-Plus movement in the two years since the inaugural meeting: a notable shift in conversation from what the model is to how countries can best scale up their PEN-Plus programs nationally.

09/01/2026

During the Global Week for Action on NCDs, we're highlighting the ways the NCDI Poverty Network is working with countries and partners to expand access to lifesaving medicines and diagnostics for severe, chronic NCDs including type 1 diabetes, sickle cell disease, and childhood heart disease.

The PEN-Plus clinic at Pujehun Government Hospital, for example, has more than 2,000 patients in active care in a rural district of southern Sierra Leone. Read on to learn about those patients, and about how 30 of the youngest recently spent a week immersed in education and empowerment at a PEN-Plus camp. The camp showed them they are not alone, they can manage their condition, and they can achieve their goals.

Because poverty should never be a death sentence for young people living with severe NCDs.



Sonia Nabeta Foundation
Doctors with Africa CUAMM
PIH Sierra Leone

Every few months, 19-year-old Mohamed Tejan travels nearly 200 miles from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to a PEN-Plus clinic in the southern part of the country. There he receives care for sickle cell disease, along with free medicine that is not available to him in the capital, free or otherwise. His lon

08/17/2026

The power of PEN-Plus and integrated care for young people living with severe, chronic noncommunicable diseases ( ) goes far beyond the clinics that the Network and our partners support. It's about strengthening health systems, raising awareness, and empowering young people with education and peer support.

That's why it's so heartening to see warriors like Esnart Banda, whom you may remember from our Camp Tuli Bonse stories last year. Esnart returned for a second year, and in this video you can see her introducing herself as a peer educator, teaching warriors about genetics that cause sickle cell disease, and literally dancing out of her shoes. Together, we are truly , with .

Sonia Nabeta Foundation
CIDRZ - the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia