DRC NCDI Poverty Commission Meets to Set Priorities

The NCDI Poverty Commission of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) convened in October 2023 to review NCDI data as part of a priority-setting meeting. The principal goals of the two-day workshop were to prioritize NCDs and to establish recommendations for the treatment of severe NCDs in the DRC. During the meeting, participants developed and validated a list of 25 priority NCDs along with their estimated costs. Sickle cell disease emerged at top of the list, followed by cancer.

Earlier in the fall, commission members met in Kinshasa to discuss national NCDI data as part of an initial situation analysis. They noted that NCDs and injuries account for 42 percent of the disease burden in the DRC. In later discussions, commissioners emphasized the importance of national awareness of NCDs.

During the priority-setting meeting earlier in the month, the commission worked to establish a framework to identify these needs and create appropriate interventions. Commission members who drove this conversation were Dr. Marc Yambayamba and Dr. Aimée Lulebo from the DRC NCD commission and faculty members at the University of Kinshasa School of Public Health as well as Dr. Emmanuel Mensah, managing director of the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and West Africa Regional Lead for the NCDI Poverty Network. Commission members noted that hemoglobinopathies and hemolytic anemias, gynecological cancers, diabetes mellitus, and drug-related disorders are all high priorities.