We are delighted to announce a new partnership with the Danish Red Cross, part of the International Red Cross Federation. We will be working together over the next couple of months to support the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for people living in humanitarian settings in the Middle East.
This project falls within the Partnering for Change initiative, a partnership between ICRC, Danish Red Cross and Novo Nordisk, which aims to improve access to NCD care in humanitarian settings.
People living in fragile and refugee settings often struggle to access healthcare, and healthworkers we have spoken to who are based in such settings tell us that their patients main concerns are around how to manage their chronic conditions.
Our Clinical Associates, either based in the region or with considerable experience working there, will be working with the Danish Red Cross on the adaptation and development of education and communications (IEC) materials on diabetes and hypertension. Once ready, these materials will be used by social workers who will facilitate peer support groups of patients diagnosed with NCDs. Each group will consist of 15 participants and be followed over a period of 6 months.
Our team will be focusing on ensuring the materials are relevant to humanitarian settings, and that they are pragmatic and context specific. They will then be ready for roll-out to use in communities in the Middle East region, especially in Iraq and Lebanon. The team will also apply a psychosocial lens across the content; looking at people’s broader needs.
Read also our OpEd article “A recipe for disaster: COVID-19 and chronic diseases amid humanitarian crises” (published jointly with the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian studies) looking at the importance of strengthening primary care systems to better manage NCD care, to better include those millions of people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.