Rhea Saksena

Global Policy Coordinator

NCDFREE

United Kingdom

Rhea Saksena is an active health advocate. She currently works as a Medical Doctor in London within National Health Service (NHS). Alongside this she is the Global Policy Coordinator for NCDFREE, a global social movement which aims to create a world free of NCDs. She completed her undergraduate studies in Global Health at the Institute of Global Health, University College London (UCL) where she graduated with First Class Honours. She was nominated for the Faculty of Life Sciences Medal for her dissertation anaylsing whether a more comprehensive strategy on sugar reduction is needed to reduce obesity in the UK. She was also awarded Highly Commended on the UCL Dean’s List and awarded the John Yudkin Prize in International Health for outstanding commitment to global health advocacy. She completed her medical training from UCL with a Certificate of Merit. She has worked as Scientific Officer with Public Health England to design and implement national sugar reduction strategies to reduce childhood obesity. Rhea has also undertaken an internship with the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe in the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Department, co- designing a study to look at market availability of complementary feeding products across the WHO European Region and their effect on Under 5 years nutrition and obesity rates. Furthermore she has interned with the WHO Country Office in Samoa to implement a national NCD strategy (PEN Fa’a Samoa) as well as working in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department in Samoan National Health Service. She is excited to use the learning from these experiences as she pursues her passion – to collaborate and use a collective voice to demand better, for the health of both individuals and populations.

DATE
TIME
SESSION
SESSION TITLE
2 FEB, 2019 15:30-17-30 hrs. PS 3.5 Framing NCDs to Accelerate Political Action