Initiative launched to improve cardiovascular health in low-income urban communities
The Novartis Foundation and its partners, including Intel, the NCD Alliance, city governments and local partners, have launched an initiative to address the high rates of high blood pressure (hypertension) in low-income urban communities.
‘Better Hearts Better Cities’ convenes multisector partners — including food suppliers, health authorities and employers — to contribute expertise and resources for local solutions that improve cardiovascular health in cities. It will be tested in three cities, Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Dakar (Senegal) and a city in Brazil to be announced later this year.
“To thrive, cities must become ecosystems of health and wellbeing, where each part works toward the same goal of improving people’s quality of life,” said Ann Aerts, head of the Novartis Foundation. “No single actor can tackle hypertension alone and multisector innovation is needed. This is the driving force behind Better Hearts Better Cities. We plan to create a network of partners to co-design, implement and evaluate interventions that strengthen urban health systems while seeking to innovate the way prevention and care is provided.”
“Cities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be made healthier places only through close collaboration, with clear benefits to be gained by employers, governments and communities alike in taking joint action to support a healthy workforce,” added Katie Dain, executive director of the NCD Alliance, the initiative’s global NCD advocacy and workplace partner. “Our priority is to strengthen NCD prevention and control by uniting and strengthening the civil society networks in low-income urban areas to stimulate advocacy, action and accountability.”
The Novartis Foundation is a philanthropic organisation focused on the sustainable impact of the health of low-income communities through a combination of programmatic work, health outcomes research and its translation into policy to tackle global health challenges.