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Shortly after Gene Bukhman, MD, PhD, began working in Rwanda as a physician in one of the country’s district hospitals, he saw a patient who developed heart failure after giving birth.
“This young mother of two children was on the verge of death for a type of heart failure that has a 90 percent recovery rate in the U.S.,” said Bukhman, a cardiologist in the BWH Division of Global Health Equity, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who now also serves as an advisor to the Rwandan Ministry of Health.
Initially, the health care system in Rwanda could not provide the care she required on a long-term basis for peripartum cardiomyopathy, so she spent several months at a time in the hospital. But later, she was paired with a community health worker and other resources to help manage her disease at a local community health center.
“She’s now doing great,” Bukhman said. “There are so many similar stories of patients like her, with diseases that can be treated easily when the right systems are in place.”
Bukhman is part of a steering committee with BWH President Betsy Nabel, MD, Global Health Equity Division Chief Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, and an impressive list of health care leaders for a March 2-3 conference examining how to address non-communicable diseases in the poorest countries. Non-communicable diseases are those that are not contagious, such as cancer, rheumatic heart disease and type 1 diabetes.
“Some of the leading thinkers in the world on these endemic diseases, as well as leaders in world health strategy, will be in attendance,” said Bukhman.
The conference—hosted by BWH, Partners In Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, the Global Taskforce on Expanded Care and Control in Developing Countries, the Non-communicable Disease Alliance and other organizations—aims to spotlight the “bottom billion,” people surviving on less than $400 a year who suffer from these types of diseases. Organizers of the conference believe that global health leaders must make an advanced advocacy effort to begin offering medications, surgery and other supports for these patients, who make up 25 percent of the disease burden in these countries.
These chronic diseases are often overlooked, but this year offers a unique opportunity for health leaders to demonstrate their significance to government officials and development agencies. The United Nations plans to hold a high level assembly meeting on non-communicable diseases in September.
“It requires another level of effectiveness for a health system to deliver the kind of care needed for these patients,” said Bukhman, who spoke of the Rwandan government’s “inspiring efforts” to reach out to these patients. “With this topic on the UN’s agenda, we have a great opportunity to begin to move the needle.”
The Long Tail of Global Health Equity: Tackling the Endemic Non-Communicable Diseases of the Bottom Billion
March 2-3, Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School
For more information and to register, visit www.pih.org/pages/harvardncd