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COALITION MEMBERS REFLECT ON THE 2ND GLOBAL DIALOGUE ON SUSTAINABLE FINANCING FOR NCDS AND MENTAL HEALTH  

September 2024

In 2018, the first international dialogue on sustainable financing for NCDs and mental health brought together more than 300 participants from all sectors. The Coalition for Access to NCD Medicines and Products, launched six months prior, presented evidence on the needed investment in access to NCD medicines and health products to reduce out-of-pocket health expenditures and the importance for multisectoral action during those dialogues. Since then, the urgency of these issues has intensified.    

In June, a collaboration by the World Bank Group and the World Health Organization brought together a smaller group of health policy and financial stakeholders for a second International dialogue on sustainable financing for NCDs and mental health. We asked several Coalition members who participated to reflect on their takeaways from these important conversations.

Despite the impressive enthusiasm from attendees, several of us were concerned that access to NCD medicines and products was not a major part of the discussion. In many of the underserved communities that face the highest burden of NCDs, this stark inequity persists because essential medicines and other lifesaving supplies remain unavailable or unaffordable. Astronomic out-of-pocket costs and lengthy stockouts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) result in the most vulnerable people getting sicker and dying sooner. 

There was a general consensus about the urgent and growing burden of NCDs, particularly in LMICs, and the need for multisectoral investment and cooperation. There is still more to be done to strengthen multilateral and multisectoral collaboration. IFPMA’s Tamara Schudel noted, “health leaders need to be ready to support through international and domestic funding, leveraging innovative financing mechanisms and setting realistic short- to mid-term, time-bound global financing targets for NCDs and mental health.” 

Sir George Alleyne hopes that the results from conversations at the meeting will have a significant impact on the documentation for the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs and Mental Health and will “include the need for financing and mechanism for mobilizing it apart from the rather pro forma declaration that financing must come principally from domestic sources.” 

The discussions exposed areas that are relevant to making medicines and products available without financial burden, including strengthening local data to inform forecasting and support supply chain efficiency; a strong primary health care system; and increased and targeted use of excise taxes to narrow the gap between supply and demand. It is a complicated road ahead, but there are many solutions that can lessen the out-of-pocket burden for people living with NCDs. 

As we near the High-Level Meeting, we must collectively raise the priority of available and affordable medicines and products. From Sir George’s perspective, “the actions needed to ensure this will include the NCD epistemic community being much more vocal about financing occupying a more prominent place in the discussions leading to the HLM.” As a Coalition we will bring forward our successes and lessons learned to highlight actionable recommendations. To support these endeavors, we will cohost a high-level roundtable during the UN General Assembly and look forward to meeting with members and partners at the Global Forum on NCDs in October.