Addressing MENA NCDs: Policies for Action at IMF CEF, Kuwait

Last week, I had the pleasure of leading a regional executive course for senior government officials on “Tackling hashtag#NoncommunicableDiseases in hashtag#MENA: Policies for Action” at the International Monetary Fund hashtag#IMF Center for Economics and Finance hashtag#CEF, in Kuwait.

For four days, we provided a multi-disciplinary approach to talking hashtag#NCDS including population-based policies, integrated people centered primary health care, the economic impact, health financing and fiscal policies, behavioral insights, digital health, and political economy.

We had 34 participants from 13 countries: hashtag#Bahrain, hashtag#Egypt, hashtag#Iraq, hashtag#Jordan, hashtag#Kuwait, hashtag#Lebanon, hashtag#Libya, hashtag#Mauritania, hashtag#Morocco, hashtag#Qatar, hashtag#SaudiArabia, hashtag#Tunisia, and hashtag#Yemen, from different ministries, organizations, and institutions. Their dedication and engagement throughout the course were impressive particularly during the last role play session on political economy of resource allocation for NCD programs, which was an exciting exercise that has stimulated passionate discussions and brought forward insightful lessons.

Thanks to Drummond, Paulo, Director of the IMF-CEF, and his colleagues as well as my wonderful hashtag#WorldBank colleagues who contributed to different sessions: Christopher H. Herbst, Ellen Van de Poel, Denizhan Duran, Reem AlSukait - CIPD, Marelize Gorgens, Zara Shubber, Saud Alrakhayes, @Yu shibui, and Volkan C.

hashtag#noncommunicablediseases hashtag#healthcare hashtag#publichealth hashtag#healthpolicy