From policy ambition to system reality: improving access to NCD medicines in LMICs

Session objectives

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understand key health system factors influencing access to NCD medicines in LMICs
• Reflect on how implementation challenges can limit the effectiveness of pharmaceutical policies
• Examine lessons from stable, fragile, and conflict-affected settings
• Discuss implications for health policy and systems research, policy design, and practice.

About the webinar

This webinar will bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to explore why pharmaceutical policies that align with international guidance often underperform in practice. Drawing on health policy and systems research (HPSR) perspectives, participants will examine how implementation dynamics, health system readiness, governance arrangements, provider behaviour, and public trust shape access to NCD medicines across diverse LMIC contexts.

The webinar will also consider how governance arrangements, trade restrictions, and wider political and economic factors influence access to medicines and shape implementation outcomes.

The session will feature country case studies from Ghana, Georgia, and Northern Syria, followed by a comparative panel discussion and audience Q&A.

Key themes

• Future priorities for health policy and systems research on NCD medicines
• Why pharmaceutical policies often underperform in LMICs despite alignment with global guidance
• Health system readiness and implementation challenges
• Provider incentives and medicines access
• Digital tools and pharmaceutical systems
• Public trust and uptake of medicines benefits
• Governance fragmentation and responses to conflict and other shocks

Speakers

Chair / Moderator

Professor Raffaella Ravinetto, PharmD, PhD, has a thirty-year experience in commercial and non-commercial clinical research, humanitarian programmes, pharmaceutical policies, and research ethics review. Currently the Head of the Public Health Department of the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium, and a professor in Pharmaceutical Public Health at ITM. She is also the chairperson of the ITM Institutional Review Board; and an extraordinary professor at the School of Public Health, University of Western Cape, South Africa. Her main areas of interest include pharmaceutical policies and equitable access to quality-assured health products, with a particular focus on the context of low- and middle-income countries; and research ethics, particularly in relation to resource-constrained settings and vulnerable populations. She was a regular member (2011-2016) and Chairperson (2017-2024) of the Ethics Review Board of the international NGO Doctors Without Border, and a senior editor of BMC Medical Ethics.

Country Evidence I: Ghana – System Capacity, Providers, and Supply Chains

Augustina Koduah is a health policy and systems expert and a pharmacist. Currently based at the University of Ghana's School of Pharmacy, where she recently served as the Head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy. She is an Associate Professor of pharmaceutical policy and systems and has over two decades of experience spanning academia, research, pharmacovigilance, health sector policy development, and pharmaceutical governance. She has experience in health and pharmaceutical system-strengthening interventions in low‑ and middle‑income country contexts. She is actively involved national health and pharmaceutical policy processes including the evaluation of Ghana’s policy on antimicrobial use and resistance and National Medicines Policy. She serves on the National Medicines Pricing Committee, National Health Technology Assessment (HTA) technical working group and the policy committee of the Antimicrobial Resistance Platform.

Country Evidence II: Georgia – Trust, Digital Systems, and Policy Adaptation

Professor George Gotsadze is Founder and President of the Curatio International Foundation (CIF), a Georgian health policy and systems research organisation working across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and other global settings. With more than 35 years of experience, he is a recognised expert in health systems, health financing, and programme evaluation, having supported research and policy initiatives in countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. George is Associate Professor at Ilia State University, where he co-leads the Public Health and Policy graduate programme. He has held several senior advisory roles with the Global Fund, including Vice-Chair of its Technical Review Panel, and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Independent Evaluation Panel. He has authored more than 80 publications on health policy and systems research.

Country Evidence III: Northern Syria – System Fragmentation, Alternative Supply Chains of NCDs medicines

Saleh Aljadeeah is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. His work sits at the intersection of access to medicines, drug utilization research, and health systems in humanitarian and conflict-affected settings. He has led and co-led national and multi-country projects focused on medicine access for forcibly displaced populations and in fragile contexts. His work has received international recognition, including awards from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the University of Oxford, and the City of Bayreuth. He is also a commissioner at The Lancet Commission on Accelerating Access to Essential Medicines. Dr. Aljadeeah holds a PhD in Drug Utilization Research (University of Bayreuth, Germany), an MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care (University of Oxford, UK), and a degree in Pharmacy (Damascus University, Syria).

Moderated Q&A

Adrianna Murphy is an Associate Professor of Health Systems Research and Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her work focuses on health systems and implementation research aimed at improving access to healthcare and medicines for underserved and conflict-affected populations, with a particular emphasis on chronic illnesses. She currently holds a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship to advance this work in Kenya. She also serves as co-chair of the Lancet Commission on the Future of Ukraine’s Health System, which is examining the future of Ukraine’s health system.

Panellists

Tolib Mirzoev is a Professor of Global Health Policy in the Department of Global Health and Development. His expertise spans three interconnected areas: health policies, health systems, and capacity strengthening. His research is primarily focused on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in April 2021, he was based at University of Leeds, where he continues to hold a Visiting Professorship. He has also worked with government and non-government organizations, provided consultancy services to international agencies such as World Health Organization and World Bank, and regularly advises major research funders, including UK Research and Innovation, National Institute for Health and Care Research, and European Commission, through funding committees. He serves as the elected Chair of the Board of Directors of Health Systems Global and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He has extensive experience in teaching, guest lecturing, external examining, and mentoring.

Akaki Zoidze is a health policy and health financing expert with more than 25 years of experience supporting health system reform in Georgia and across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He has held senior national and international policy leadership roles, contributing to major reforms in health financing, primary health care, hospital services, and social protection across more than 15 countries. Akaki has extensive expertise in health systems research, policy evaluation, and evidence-informed policymaking, with numerous publications on health financing reform, results-based financing, and health system performance. He is also an experienced evaluator of health programs and organizations, specializing in evaluation design, methodology, and analysis. For over a decade, he has taught Evidence-Based Health Policy and Health Systems at Tbilisi State Medical University.

Nino Kotrikadze has seven years of experience in healthcare and holds a Master of Public Health. She is currently a Researcher at the Curatio International Foundation in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she works on health systems and policy research projects funded by international organizations such as the WHO, the European Union, and the NIHR. Her research interest is to bridge the gap between research and practice through evidence-based decision-making to improve public health outcomes. She also has four years of experience in a hospital setting as a Quality Control and Quality Assurance Specialist, where she focused on hospital operational audits and regulatory compliance.

Jacob Novignon is a health economist and a senior research fellow at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana. He has expertise in health financing, economic evaluation, priority setting, and health policy analysis. His work focuses on how health systems can improve equity, efficiency, and access to essential health services and technologies, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. He has supported national and international policy processes on health financing, resource allocation, investment cases, and universal health coverage. Jacob is also currently a fellow of the AREF Leadership Fellowship and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation.

Professor Andy Gray is Senior Lecturer in the Division of Pharmacology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Pharmaceutical Policy and Evidence-Based Practice. He is also Honorary Senior Scientist and Consultant Pharmacist at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). A leading expert in pharmaceutical policy and essential medicines, Andy has served on South Africa's National Essential Medicines List Committee since 2013 and currently co-chairs its Expert Review Committee. He also advises the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) through several technical committees and is a member of the World Health Organization's Expert Panel on Drug Policies and Management. Widely published, he holds editorial roles with several international journals and has made significant contributions to pharmaceutical policy, medicines selection, and evidence-based practice globally.

Format: Zoom webinar
Registration: Link to Zoom