On Tuesday, May 9, 2023, Beyond Type 1 joined the World Health Organization (WHO) and Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) Alliance to call on world leaders on the United Nations Hearing on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Panelists got here together to interrupt down silos and promote a holistic approach to noncommunicable disease prevention and care, specializing in putting people at the middle of policy and programmatic decision-making.

Beyond Type 1’s Vice President of International Markets, Mariana Gómez, served on a panel alongside esteemed world health leaders to debate the way to guarantee the appropriate to health for people living with NCDs through UHC. Co-hosted by the Everlasting Mission of Jamaica to the UN, NCD Alliance, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust and WHO, the event presented advocacy priorities and key asks ahead of the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting on UHC, which is able to happen on September 21, 2023. 

The High-Level Meeting will mark a critical moment for advancing NCD prevention and control at the best policy-making level. NCDs cause 74% of deaths worldwide—17 million people die annually from a NCD before the age of 70. 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty yearly due to out-of-pocket payments required to administer their care. At the very least half the world’s population currently lacks essential comprehensive health services coverage.

“We are usually not patients because we’re impatient,” said Gómez, providing critical perspectives from her lived experience. “We must act now. Those of us with a noncommunicable disease like type 1 diabetes, like me, who’re privileged to be alive, cannot stand by while our peers worldwide don’t have access to the essential care they should live. And while that is my story, it’s the story of many others impacted by noncommunicable diseases.”

The principal NCD types are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. Discussion in the course of the panel called for prioritizing NCD interventions on the community level through primary care professionals and community members and empowering patient-managed care. A typical theme included the necessity to hearken to and leverage the lived experience to craft integrated recommendations for policy change and construct a holistic healthcare approach to NCDs and chronic care. 

“Beyond Type 1 is committed to meeting people where they’re—no matter what stage of their diabetes journey they’re in, what language they speak, or what sort of health coverage or support system they’ve,” said Deborah Dugan, Beyond Type 1 CEO. “It’s critical that everybody, in all places, has access to high-quality healthcare services that they need, without facing financial hardships, and that’s what Universal Health Coverage is all about. We commend the WHO and the NCD Alliance for convening this group. We’re honored to have the ability to work with other noncommunicable disease opinion leaders, nonprofit organizations, health care professionals and decision-makers to construct more equitable care solutions.”

Panelists included:

• Mr. Werner Obermeyer, director of the WHO office at UN Headquarters in Recent York 
• Dr. Monika Arora, president-elect of NCD Alliance and executive director at HRIDAY 
• Ms. Alison Cox, director of policy and advocacy at NCD Alliance 

Elisha Dunn-Georgieu, president and CEO of the Global Health Council, moderated the event. 

Ambassador Mr. Brian Wallace (everlasting representative of Jamaica to the UN), Ambassador Mrs. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett (everlasting representative of Guyana to the UN) and Ambassador Mr. Mohammad Abdul Muhith (everlasting representative of Bangladesh to the UN) opened and closed the panel discussion by providing snapshots of NCD-related measures taken in each country, describing the way to champion UHC progress. 

Following the primary United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage in 2019, Heads of State and Government will meet again in September 2023 to debate UHC. This High-Level Meeting takes place immediately after the opening of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly and SDG Summit, providing a chance to advance the policy and implementation, enabling progressive achievement of UHC by ensuring equity in countries’ UHC health advantages packages across the three pillars of monetary, quality service and population coverage.  

Gómez is part of the NCD Diaries Our Views, Our Voices initiative. Read her story here.