The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF), in collaboration with Dr Shanthi Mendis, is pleased to announce the first Certificate peer learning programme for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The first primer course is for everyone who works for health and wants to better support living with NCDs during a humanitarian emergency.
Learn more & enroll in English | En savoir plus & vous inscrire en français
The pharmacy was badly damaged.
The roads are blocked.
The clinic is overwhelmed with trauma cases.
A mother with Type 1 diabetes has three days of insulin left.
A grand-father with severe high blood pressure has lost his medicine.
A little girl with asthma has lost her inhaler.
Who helps them?
In 2024, nearly 300 million people needed humanitarian help.
Conflicts doubled over five years.
There were almost 400 major natural disasters.
For the hundreds of millions of people living with long-term non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart disease, or asthma, a crisis can wreak havoc.
NCDs cause 74% of all deaths worldwide.
Do you know what happens to people living with NCDs in humanitarian settings?
In a humanitarian emergency, lives can be saved if health workers know what to look for and what to do.
That is why Dr. Shanthi Mendis, retired Senior Adviser for Noncommunicable Diseases at the World Health Organization, has partnered with The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) to create an open-access primer: What you can do to support people living with noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings.
Dr. Mendis led the development of the WHO Package of Essential NCD Interventions (PEN) and its adaptation for humanitarian settings (PEN-H) with the International Rescue Committee.
This primer is for any health worker who may find themselves as a first responder during a crisis, whether you are a community health volunteer, a nurse, a doctor, or a programme manager.
It is also for experienced clinicians who already know NCDs well but have never had to manage them without a lab, a pharmacy, or a referral hospital.
You do not have to be an NCD expert to save a life.
But you do need to know what to look for.
Think about the people in your community who live with a long-term health condition.
What would happen to them if the clinic, the pharmacy, and the clean water were all gone tomorrow?
You do not have to face that question alone.
This primer puts basic information you can use into your hands.
But information alone is not enough.
This primer is a starting point for practitioners to connect, learn from each other, and support each other.
You will share experience with colleagues from around the world who want to better support people living with NCDs.
You will learn to recognize eight life-threatening NCD emergencies, use a simple triage method to decide who needs help first, and understand your role in every phase of the emergency cycle.
The primer is text only.
Short readings.
No heavy downloads.
It works on any device.
It respects your time and your bandwidth.
It is also your first step in a larger journey.
After the primer, you can continue into the full Certificate peer learning programme for noncommunicable diseases, with modules to support you and your community to strengthen the systems that support people before, during, and after a crisis.
Each step builds your expertise and expands your professional network.