The Addressing Inequalities theme is dedicated to tackling the complex drivers of inequalities, both globally and locally, with good health and wellbeing a key area of focus. Recently, this commitment was demonstrated by hosting over 60 delegates from Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and the West Indies at an international Erasmus+/ARUA meeting on addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular diseases, stroke, chronic inflammatory disorders, diabetes and cancer, in African contexts.

NCDs have been recognised as a leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa for some years. However, until the 2019 Global Burden of Disease report, this was not fully acknowledged by international agencies, despite previous forecast that NCDs would be the leading cause of death by 2030. The proliferation of NCD’s across sub-Saharan African nations is informed by multiple social, cultural, economic, geographic and bio-medical factors. The meeting therefore brought together African and University of Glasgow researchers to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-national partnerships to address the complex burden of NCDs in Africa.

Various images of international delegates meeting at the NCD conference  

Through talks, seminars and meetings, attendees engaged in knowledge exchange across a range of topics relating to NCD, multimorbidity and infection research. These included seminars on developing NCD interventions, food systems and food security, gender and health and climate change and health.  The Glasgow Centre for International Development also ran a series of research capacity building workshops for delegates as part of the event.

Review the Erasmus+/ARUA event programme in full.

First published: 26 June 2023

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The ARUA Centre of Excellence for Non-Communicable Diseases

Glasgow Centre for International Development