Non-Communicable Diseases in Emergencies & Protracted Crises: Addressing Chronicity in Disrupted Health Systems

Course overview

This three-week online short course examines the unique challenges of addressing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)—such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer—in contexts of conflict, displacement, and protracted crises. Through a blend of self-paced learning, real-world case studies, and live expert sessions, participants will engage with current debates, policies, and practices aimed at ensuring continuity of care and sustainability of services. The course culminates in a forward-looking discussion on integration and localisation of NCD services in fragile health systems.

The course is delivered fully online, with asynchronous content accessible through LSTM virtual learning platform and 3 synchronous sessions live on MS Teams on Thursday 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd of October 2026, 1pm-3pm GMT (UK time)

Course benefits at a glance:

• Gain practical insights into NCD care in conflict-affected, fragile and limited statehood settings, using real-world case studies and examples.
• Develop skills to critically analyse and design context-appropriate, sustainable strategies for integrating NCD care into health responses in emergencies and protracted crises.
• Engage with leading experts and peers through interactive live sessions, fostering cross-context learning and professional networking.

Course content and Weekly Themes

Week 1: Characterising NCDs in Humanitarian Crises and Emergencies

Key Themes:

• Defining NCDs and chronic care needs in emergencies
• Crisis typologies and their impact on NCD services
• Data gaps, invisibility, and the under-prioritisation of NCDs
• Differences between acute and chronic health responses

Week 2: Complexity of Addressing NCDs in Emergencies and Protracted Crises

Key Themes:

• Structural, political, and financial barriers to care
• Role of health systems fragmentation and limitation of humanitarianism
• Regional and global governance and accountability gaps
• Local determinants (e.g. displacement, stigma, access inequities)

Week 3: Towards Integration – Sustainable and Responsive NCD Care

Key Themes:

• Integrating NCDs into emergency preparedness and response plans
• Effective Interventions and Models for task shifting, mHealth, and decentralised delivery, etc.
• Bridging humanitarian and development approaches
• Localisation and sustainable health system strengthening

Course tutors

Dr Ibrahim R. Bou-Orm

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Ibrahim joined Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) as a Senior Lecturer in Global Health and Social Sciences in 2024. He has extensive experience in designing and implementing complex health systems and policy studies in fragile and conflict-affected settings. His work includes the use of tools like applied political economy analysis, systems dynamics methods, surveys, and mixed methods to analyse health systems delivering care for vulnerable and displaced populations in crises and emergencies. Ibrahim has actively contributed to international conferences and participated in key expert consultation meetings, such the WHO EMRO consultation meeting on health systems recovery from emergencies (2023). He also supported EMRO in developing the principles and priorities for health system recovery in the occupied Palestinian territory (2024).

Professor Fouad Fouad

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Fouad is a Social Sciences and Global Health Professor at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who joined the school in 2024. He has extensive research on migration and health, focusing on multidisciplinary approaches to forced displacement, health systems in humanitarian settings, and the political economy of health in protracted crises.

Fouad served as the Chair of the IDRC- Forced Displacement Program in the Middle East, and the Co-Director of the Refugee Health Program at the Global Health Institute. In addition, he was a Research Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, where he also held a position as an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

He was a commissioner in the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health (2018) and is currently a commissioner in the Lancet Commission on Health, Conflict, and Forced Migration.

Entrance Requirements

Course pre-requisites:

None

Academic requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in health or other relevant backgrounds.

Technical requirements: (if relevant, e.g. SSPS training)

• Internet access
• Familiarity with online learning platforms

We are happy to discuss further on an individual basis – contact mylstm@lstmed.ac.uk (link sends e-mail)

Aims/Objectives

LSTM education courses are taught within a dynamic environment by staff working at the cutting-edge of research in tropical medicine and global health. They are designed to enable the professional development of the student, to be relevant to students from both the UK and overseas and to promote approaches to study that will enable students to continue their learning into the future.

This course aims to:

• Equip learners with a critical understanding of how non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are addressed in emergencies and protracted crises, and to explore strategies for integrating NCD care into emergency preparedness, response, and sustainable health systems strengthening.

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

1. Describe the burden and nature of NCDs in humanitarian settings and protracted crises.
2. Analyse the complexity of providing NCD care in disrupted health systems in such settings, including systemic, political, and social determinants as well as the limitations of the humanitarian system itself.
3. Examine different models and approaches to respond to NCDs and integrate NCD care into emergency preparedness and response.
4. Reflect on the policy and operational strategies required to ensure sustainability, equity, and local ownership in NCD care programming.
5. Engage critically with case studies and propose context-appropriate solutions for NCD management in crises.

Teaching approaches

• Asynchronous content (6 hours of self-study per week): Accessible via LSTM virtual learning platform, including curated readings, YouTube videos, case study materials, and weekly reflection/discussion forums.
• Synchronous sessions: Delivered live each Thursday from 1–3 PM GMT, including presentations, expert panels, and groupwork.