Photo Gallery: The UNICEF ROSA Workshop

Participants in the June 2024 workshop included representatives from all of the countries in UNICEF’s Regional Office for South Asia.

In early June, delegations from all eight countries in UNICEF ROSA—the Regional Office for South Asia—convened in Kathmandu for a three-day workshop on severe childhood-onset noncommunicable diseases.

During the workshop, which UNICEF ROSA hosted in collaboration with the NCDI Poverty Network, participants discussed strategies for integrating these severe conditions into health system interventions and noncommunicable disease and child health policies in South Asia.

Many of the challenges the participants discussed were based on the harsh realities of health financing. It was noted, for example, that although development assistance for noncommunicable diseases has grown over the past three decades, spending on severe conditions has not always kept pace with the burden they cause. And pediatric noncommunicable diseases are especially underfunded.

Striking an optimistic note, representatives from three of the countries—Bangladesh, India, and Nepal—shared the successes they’ve already achieved with PEN-Plus.

“Our colleagues from Sangwari in Chhattisgarh, India, and the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health were able to lead with their experiences,” said Neil Gupta, policy director for both the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity. “There was a real enthusiasm among the other countries to get PEN-Plus started or to do more of the technical-level work needed to ensure that childhood NCDs are included in their policy frameworks.”

Photos and video courtesy of UNICEF ROSA

Among the principal organizers of the workshop were, from left, Dr. Raoul Bermejo, a health specialist at the UNICEF headquarters in New York City; Arjanne Rietsema, a health specialist at the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia; and Dr. Neil Gupta, policy director for the NCDI Poverty Network.

Anu Gomanju, a public health officer at the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health and a Voices for PEN-Plus advocate, shares her experiences as a person living with rheumatic heart disease.

Dr. Yogesh Jain, a public health physician with Sangwari in Chhattisgarh State in India, describes his organization’s experiences with PEN-Plus.

Participating in the Policymaker Panel Discussion were, from left, Ministry of Health representatives from Bangladesh (Dr. Sajib Roy), India (Dr. Shobhna Gupta), and Nepal (Dr. Poma Thapa).

Among those participating in the June workshop were, from left, Sandeepa Karki, an NCDI specialist at the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health; Anu Gomanju, a public health officer at the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health and a Voices for PEN-Plus advocate; Dr. Neil Gupta, policy director for the NCDI Poverty Network; Bishwash Maharjan, a programme officer at the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health; and Yamuna Chhetri, a programme officer at the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health.

This classic photographic forced perspective makes Dr. Raoul Bermejo look like he’s literally holding up UNICEF’s work on children and NCDs with his hand. As a health specialist for UNICEF, though, the reality matches the illusion.