The NCD Lab on Women and Girls

NCDs, mental health conditions, and substance abuse disorders are now the leading causes of mortality and morbidity for women globally, due to the success of maternal and neonatal health programmes, demographic changes, and shifts in global dietary and behavioural habits. In addition to continued support for sexual, reproductive and maternal health, we advocate for a new global agenda that addresses the growing burden of NCDs, mental health conditions and injuries in women and girls.  
 
To address this shift in the global burden of disease, it is imperative to adopt a life-course approach, in which early, health-related measures can be indicators for health outcomes later in life. By looking at women’s and girls’ health and well-being from birth to old age as interconnected periods, we can plan preventative interventions early in life that keep girls and women healthier across their lifespans. 
 
The vision for the NCD Lab on Women and Girls is to support innovative, ambitious initiatives that promote gender equity and address the urgent need for progress among women and girls towards SDG target 3.4: to reduce by one-third premature mortality from NCDs, and promote mental health and wellbeing. These submissions will take a gender-transformative approach; they will recognize and address both the role of gender in the determinants and impacts of NCDs, and the links between NCDs, mental health conditions and gender inequalities and how they reinforce each other.  
 

Co-Chairs: WHO and The George Institute for Global Health

Steering Group Members:

• Abdul Wahhab Chowdhury, Senior Consultant Pathologist, National Health Laboratory, Gaboron
• Asteria Herman Kimambo, Lecturer, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science (MUHAS)
• Athena Poppas, President, American College of Cardiology
• Bent Lautrup-Nielsen, Head of Global Development and Advocacy, World Diabetes Foundation
• Derrick Bary Abila, Research Associate, Makerere University
• Helen McGuire, Director, Global NCD Program, PATH
• Koyejo Oyerinde, Pediatrician/Health Policy Expert, Independent
• Lakshmi Venkitachalam, Program Director, American Heart Association
• Maria Jose Cisneros-Caceres, Health and Migration Focal Point, United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth
• Patrice Lindsay, Director, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
• Raji Ganesan, Consultant Pathologist, Royal College of Pathologists, UK
• Rilwan Adan, Chief Medical Officer, Baobab Circle
• Soon-Young Yoon, UN Representative, International Alliance of Women

The George Institute for Global Health previously facilitated a Community on Women and NCDs on WHO’s Knowledge Action Portal, a web platform for NCDs information, interaction, and inspiration.

Learn more about the Community on Women and NCDs