For over 50 years, IDA Foundation has focused on its mission to improve access to essential medicines and medical goods in underserved regions. Recognised globally for its role in strengthening healthcare supply chains, IDA has successfully addressed many challenges in delivering life-saving products for infectious diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. 
  
Yet, as global health priorities shift, a new challenge has emerged: the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Unlike infectious diseases, where well-established funding mechanisms and partnerships have made significant progress, NCDs—such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases—lack the same coordinated global focus, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). 
 
Recognising this widening gap, IDA Foundation decided to apply its decades of experience to the NCD ecosystem. This journey led to the creation of NCDconnect—a collaborative initiative between IDA Foundation and Solvoz—designed to overcome barriers in NCD care by improving access to essential medicines, diagnostics, and medical supplies. 
 
NCDconnect builds on IDA’s strengths in procurement and market access, providing: 
1.    A Digital Procurement Platform: Tailored to streamline purchasing for governments, NGOs, and healthcare providers, offering access to a curated, high-quality product catalogue. 
2.    An NCD Market Pathway: Supporting suppliers to expand their reach into underserved markets while maintaining a focus on affordability and quality. 
 
By addressing critical gaps in the supply chain, NCDconnect connects supply and demand to ensure patients receive the care they need. 
 

Key Milestones and Updates 
Since its launch, NCDconnect has achieved several significant milestones: 

•    Expanded Product Range: The platform now offers nearly 100 medicines and devices, encompassing close to 200 variations in formulations and presentations. These products target the four main NCD categories: cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. 

•    Strategic Partnerships: 
o    Strategic Partnership with the Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition, combining IDA Foundation’s expertise with ATOM’s extensive oncology network and capabilities to address critical gaps in global health supply chains. This Medicines Access Pathways Model has, since then, introduced a quality-assured generic nilotinib for chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), now available on NCDconnect platform. 
o    Collaboration with FIND to enhance access to diagnostics for NCDs. 
o    Engagement with the Coalition for Access to NCD Medicines & Products to strengthen global health supply chains in the NCD space. 

•    Supplier Collaboration: Agreements with manufacturers such as Abbott, Hetero, Sanofi, and Naprod to enhance the availability of NCD essential medicines and medical devices. 
 

Continuing the journey… 
NCDconnect is set to build on its progress with targeted actions that address the evolving needs of patients and healthcare systems. The platform plans to expand its product catalogue, guided by the WHO Essential Medicines List and tailored to align with national policies, ensuring it stays responsive to stakeholder input and emerging priorities. Collaboration with suppliers will be a key focus, leveraging their access programs to co-develop sustainable solutions that improve the availability and affordability of essential treatments and medical devices. Furthermore, NCDconnect will strengthen partnerships with global health stakeholders—including buyers, policymakers, and advocacy groups—to drive coordinated efforts and meaningful outcomes for individuals living with NCDs. 

 
Taking Action for NCD Care 
IDA Foundation’s journey to launch NCDconnect is rooted in our commitment to addressing healthcare inequities in a collaborative approach. As the NCD crisis continues, solutions like NCDconnect enable LMICs low- and medium-countries to close critical gaps in care and create sustainable pathways for better health outcomes. 

For more information, feel free to contact us at ncd@idafoundation.org or visit www.ncdconnect.org.