TECHNOLOGY
ANN AERTS TITLE : HEAD OF NF COMPANY : NOVARTIS FOUNDATION INDUSTRY : HEALTHCARE LOCATION : SWITZERLAND
EXECUTIVE BIO
Ann Aerts leads the Novartis
Foundation , which supports the health of countries with lowincome populations using data , technology and AI . Previously , she worked at the Lung and Tuberculosis Association in Belgium and at the Red Cross .
health in my position leading the Novartis Foundation .”
“ You could probably describe my role as leading the strategic design of CARDIO4Cities – helping drive understanding of the incredibly large , unmet need with regards to cardiovascular disease in LMICs , combined with the need to take a multidisciplinary , multisector partnership approach to address it , and he opportunity of leveraging cities as drivers of population health and innovation .”
Developed in conjunction with local authorities , the health sector and private sector partners , it combines different interventions in each city to make the most of opportunities for blood pressure measurement throughout the urban environment , both within and outside of the health system . It has proved to be a recipe for success in terms of both health and economic impact .
The programme took place across São Paulo , Brazil ; Dakar , Senegal ; and Ulaanbataar , Mongolia . All three of these cities had a high prevalence of hypertension and associated illness .
“ In Mongolia , for example , over 40 % of all premature deaths are from cardiovascular diseases ,” explains Aerts . “ We also wanted to show how the CARDIO4Cities approach would work in diverse lower-middle- and middle-income country settings – thus working with cities on three different continents . Importantly , all three cities had local governments that were willing to take ownership of the initiative – an essential criterion for success .”
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