Thursday 31 January 2019

NCDs, which include cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, are the leading cause of death and a prominent cause of disability worldwide. Evidence confirms that the majority of the health burden from NCDs are attributable from four major behavioral risks including, but not limited to, unhealthy diet, tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol and physical inactivity. Most of the aforementioned risks are preventable.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC), identified as target SDG 3.8, is both the goal and means by itself. UHC is particularly crucial for the management of NCDs, nutrition and mental health, in particular for health system responses. Not only screening, diagnosis and treatment, UHC also contributes to disease prevention and health promotion. Scaling up implementation of NCD best buy interventions is therefore clearly part of the path towards UHC.

The Prince Mahidol Award Conference in 2019 (PMAC 2019) will be organized under the topic of “The Political Economy of NCDs: A Whole of Society Approach.” The PMAC 2019 field trip will be arranged to share experience in implementing health care initiatives to identify major bottlenecks, root causes and propose solutions at national and local level in Thailand to accelerate implementation of NCD prevention and control in different settings and groups in UHC implementation. The concept notes of six site visits proposed for PMAC 2019 are described below:

Site NO.1: Multi-disciplinary-based Approaches for Personalizing Holistic Care in Diabetes and Stroke

Location : Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok

Prevalence of obesity and diabetes has exponentially increased in the past decade, while cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including stroke and heart diseases are currently the leading cause of death. The “epidemiologic transition” changes in the burden diseases from infectious diseases, ....

Site NO. 2: Managing NCDs at the District Health System

Location : Kaeng Khoi District, Saraburi Province

In 2013, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched the district health system (DHS) policy to encourage integrated management of health care at the district level in order to have more unity of the health care team, share resources and promote community participation. The aim of the DHS polic....

Site NO.3: Tobacco Cessation for Patients with NCDs by Physician Network

Location : Paolo Private Hospital, Bangkok

Smoking is a major public health problem worldwide and a leading cause of preventable death. Smoking can cause lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardio- cerebrovascular diseases, social and economic problems and premature death. However, smoking cessation is difficult as evidenc....

Site NO.4 : Community Health Fund Promotes Health Promotion and Prevention Activities to Accelerate Implementation of NCD Prevention and Controls

Location : A Community Health Fund in Yai Cha Sub-District, Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province

The “Community Health Fund (CHF)” was launched under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) in 2006. The community fund is made up of matching contributions from the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and local government aiming to improve community health promotion and prevention ac....

Site NO.5 : Multi-sector Network Participation for NCD Management

Location : Bansuan Municpality , Chonburi Province

There was an initiative of provincial networks in Chonburi Province to promote “Safety-healthy” by organizing meetings of various groups of people, getting consensus and taking actions. The concerned issues included health, safety, environment, NCD management, etc. Many activities had....

Site NO.6 : Health Promotion for NCD Prevention through Political Economy Lens

Location : Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), Bangkok

The Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) works on addressing NCD major risk factors, including tobacco consumption, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. Our NCD work is consistent with the Ottawa Charter’s 5 Health Promotion Action Strategies. “Tri-....