- Better Hearts Better Cities is a
Novartis Foundation initiative to improve cardiovascular health in
low-income urban communities by addressing the prevention,
management and control of hypertension.
- Non-communicable diseases
(NCDs), including cardiovascular disease, are a growing health
crisis with 75% of NCD deaths occurring in low- and middle-income
countries; this is compounded by rapid urbanization.
- The innovative approach is being
tested on three continents: in Mongolia, Senegal, and
Brazil.
- Better Hearts Better Cities
brings together multisector partners, including a technology
advisor partnership with Intel Corporation, to co-design and
implement interventions beyond healthcare.
Basel, May 17, 2017 - On
World Hypertension Day 2017, the Novartis Foundation and its
partners, including Intel Corporation, the NCD Alliance, city
governments and local partners, announce the launch of Better
Hearts Better Cities, an innovative initiative to address the high
rates of high blood pressure (hypertension) in low-income urban
communities.
Rapid urbanization in low- and middle-income
countries (LMICs) has deepened health inequities and increased
pressure on already under-resourced urban infrastructures and
services. This is critical in LMICs which face a growing health
crisis of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular
diseases, with almost 75% of the global NCD deaths occurring in
LMICs.[1]
The Novartis Foundation is taking ambitious steps
to tackle hypertension, the prime risk factor for cardiovascular
disease, in low-income urban communities. Better Hearts Better
Cities convenes multisector partners - from food suppliers to
health authorities, employers and city planners - to contribute
expertise and resources for local solutions that improve
cardiovascular health in cities.
The innovative approach is being tested in three
cities, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Dakar, Senegal, and a city in Brazil
to be announced later this year.
"To thrive, cities must become ecosystems of
health and wellbeing, where each part works toward the same goal of
improving people's quality of life. No single actor can tackle
hypertension alone and multisector innovation is needed. This is
the driving force behind Better Hearts Better Cities. We plan to
create a network of partners to co-design, implement and evaluate
interventions that strengthen urban health systems while seeking to
innovate the way prevention and care is provided," said Ann Aerts,
Head of the Novartis Foundation.
"Cities in LMICs can be made healthier places only
through close collaboration, with clear benefits to be gained by
employers, governments and communities alike in taking joint action
to support a healthy workforce" said Katie Dain, Executive Director
of the NCD Alliance, the initiative's global NCD advocacy and
workplace partner. "Our priority is to strengthen NCD prevention
and control by uniting and strengthening the civil society networks
in low-income urban areas to stimulate advocacy, action and
accountability."
Information and communication technology (ICT), or
digital technology, is an integral part of Better Hearts Better
Cities. Intel Corporation, as digital advisor for this initiative,
provides in-kind support by performing ICT assessments in the three
cities. Intel plans to utilize the insights together with the other
partners to design a more sustainable health system that
incorporates next generation technology infrastructure alongside
improvements in care delivery. "The affordability constraints and
lack of existing healthcare infrastructure in LMICs actually
represent a great opportunity to leapfrog over mature markets,
because we can bypass costly development stages that are just not
realistic there," said Jennifer Esposito, General Manager, Global
Health and Life Sciences at Intel Corporation. "We're excited to
apply our technology expertise and collaborate on novel approaches
that help deliver care at significantly lower costs while improving
access and increasing quality."
Progress in
Ulaanbaatar
Implementation of the initiative is most advanced in Ulaanbaatar,
the capital of Mongolia and home to half of the country's
population, around 1.4 million people.[2] In this capital city,
also one of the world's most polluted cities,[3] more than 25% of
the population suffer from hypertension[4] and cardiovascular
disease is the leading cause of death, accounting for over 40% of
the annual deaths.[5] Better Hearts Better Cities partners,
including Onom Foundation, Ulaanbaatar City Municipal Government
and Health Department, National Insurance Fund and the Mongolian
Chamber of Commerce, seek to address determining factors such as
high salt consumption and poor diet,[6] and are co-developing and
implementing a first wave of interventions to improve quality and
efficiency of care as well as health literacy.
About the Novartis
Foundation
The Novartis Foundation is a philanthropic
organization which strives to have sustainable impact on the health
of low-income communities through a combination of programmatic
work, health outcomes research, and its translation into policy to
tackle global health challenges. We work hand-in-hand with local
and global partners to catalyze sustainable healthcare models to
improve access and health outcomes, and to accelerate efforts to
eliminate leprosy and malaria by focusing on interventions that aim
to interrupt transmission. Everything we do is grounded in evidence
and innovation, and our work is a continuous cycle of evaluation,
adaptation and application. In 2016, the operational budget for the
Foundation was CHF 15 million and our programs reached 8.9 million
people.
For more information, please
visit:
www.novartisfoundation.org
www.youtube.com/novartisfoundation
Novartis Foundation is on Twitter. Sign up to
follow @NovartisFDN at https://twitter.com/NovartisFDN
References
[1] World Health Organization, Global status report on
non-communicable diseases, 2014, [p.xi]
[2] Mongolian Statistical Information Service. 2015. Available at
http://www.1212.mn/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId=976&tblId=DT_NSO_0300_004V1&conn_path=I2&language=en
[3] WHO Global Health Observatory - City Level Exposure 2016.
Available at
http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.AMBIENTCITY2016?lang=en
[4] World Health Organization. STEPS Survey Mongolia.
2013
[5] Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2015. Available at
http://www.healthdata.org/mongolia
[6] WHO. Salt reduction in Mongolia. Available at
http://www.wpro.who.int/world_health_day/2013/measuring_and_reducing_salt_MNG.pdf?ua=1
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Eric Althoff Novartis Global Media
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