Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), namely, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, are the leading causes of death and disability globally. More specifically, they affect more people each year and are responsible for over 70% of all global deaths, 80% of which occur in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the burden of NCDs further. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) in particular, the pandemic has exposed the cracks in healthcare delivery systems, whereby inequities were revealed and widened in the EMR.

Offering a space to discuss this issue further, EMPHNET held the ninth webinar within its EMPHNET WEBi Series on Tuesday December 1, 2020 .Titled “A new lens for NCDs in the context of COVID-19”, the 90-minute session brought experts together to shed light on mechanisms suited for responding to the burden of NCDs during public health emergencies such as COVID-19. Furthermore, the webinar offered its participants an opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge from selected countries on the extent to which NCD programs and services have been affected during the pandemic.

The session was led by three health experts namely: Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington, and Member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians in the UK. Prof. Alaa Alwan; Principal Deputy Director at the Division of Global Health Protection at the Center for Global Health and Chief of Noncommunicable Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Prof. Patricia Richter; and Chairperson of the NCD Alliance of the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Dr. Ibtihal Fadhil. This session was facilitated by both Dr. PH, Member of the Jordan House of Senates and Professor of Public Health Sciences at the School of Medicine of the University of Jordan Prof. Raeda Al Qutob, and Executive Director, EMPHNET Dr. Mohannad Al Nsour.

In his opening remarks Dr Al Nsour introduced the topic and the speakers for the evening. He then handed the floor over to Prof. Alwan, who shed light on the reasons why NCD services are disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his presentation he stated that more than half of the world’s population still have no access to all essential services and that the world at large is poorly prepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, amongst other reasons. Prof. Alwan further added that there are priority areas that should be met in order to integrate essential healthcare services in the pandemic response . Such priority areas include; strengthening public health leadership, the re-emergence of the international NCD agenda and monitoring mechanisms, integrating Universal Health Coverage in pandemic preparedness and response efforts, and prioritizing high-impact and cost-effective interventions with a special focus on primary health care delivery platforms.

From her end, Prof. Richter spoke about the global lessons learned from the implications of COVID-19 on NCDs. She stated that in order to keep people with NCDs healthy, there should be reduced contact with healthcare facilities especially for people with less urgent cases. Some solutions to achieve this goal may include telehealth, the direction of multi-month medicines, or the arrangement of medicine pick-up outside the health facility. She further added that telehealth can be used to ; screen patients, maintain access to primary care providers and specialists, monitor clinical signs of certain chronic medical conditions, or to provide coaching and support for patients managing chronic health conditions. Finally, she also suggested tasks shifting and redistribution of health workers to support COVID-19 patients, while others are reallocated to provide critical services for people with NCDs.

Dr. Fadhil spoke about bridging the accountability gap for combating NCDs in the EMR especially during COVID-19 era. She gave an overview regarding the current situation of NCD prevalence in the region and she surveyed the causes of NCD service disruption. She added that the COVID-19 pandemic served as a wake up call for building a strong resilient health system that advocates the inclusion of NCDs in all public health emergencies protocols. This will serve to ensure service continuity and the planning against service disruptions arising from long lockdowns. She finally called for the inclusion of Civil Society Organizations in the NCD Tracking process.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A session facilitated by Dr Al Qutub, Finally, Dr. Al Nsour ended the session by thanking the speakers, the facilitator, and the audience. He wrapped up the webinar with some key messages through which he summed up what the speakers had said.

The webinar was attended by 317 participants, deeming it the most widely attended webinar in the WEBi Series to date.