TGLF Fellow Panu Saaristo just published an argument for why local leadership is the missing key to humanitarian health. Read the full article: https://www.learning.foundation/2026/07/08/when-the-flood-comes-the-diabetes-does-not-leave-why-local-leadership-is-the-missing-key-to-humanitarian-health/
Somewhere in a flooded district this week, a woman is trying to work out where next week's insulin will come from.
She is not thinking about the humanitarian system.
She is thinking about whether she will still be here in a month.
Noncommunicable diseases already cause around three-quarters of deaths worldwide, and they do not pause for emergencies.
Hypertension does not resolve when floodwater enters the clinic, and diabetes does not remit when the supply chain collapses.
The medicines needed to treat acute NCD presentations for 10,000 people over three months cost approximately 2,000 dollars.
Adding chronic disease management brings the total to around 22,000 dollars.
Against the cost of one heart attack
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