Feature story: Grassroots innovation to beat noncommunicable diseases

In 2021, WHO launched the NCD Lab, an initiative leveraging community-driven grassroots innovations with the potential to be game changers in beating diseases such as cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and heart disease. 

Noncommunicable diseases kill 42 million people annually. The urgency and complexity of this epidemic call for novel, bold, and equitable approaches.

Since its launch, nearly 100 innovative projects have been submitted to the NCD Lab. This WHO feature story portrays three NCD Lab winners from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States of the America and Indonesia, and discusses how their grassroots innovations can make a difference for local communities and global response efforts.