Susanne Volqvartz, Denmark
I commit to beat NCDs! NCDs have been the core issue of my working life for 15 years. 6 years ago I initiated the Danish NCD Alliance to support people in East Africa to beat NCDs. It has not been difficult to find motivation for professional commitment to beat NCDs. My brother and daughter in law have been diabetic since childhood, my mother has asthma, she is a cancer survivor and suffers now from Alzheimer, my stepfather sadly died from cancer this summer. What really affected me this autumn, was that my husband was diagnosed with a heart disease, he was treated with a PCI and is on lifelong medication. Luckily we live in Denmark, and we all get the best possible treatment. If I had been an East African, my family would have been bankrupt from out of pocket costs, my mother would not have survived the cancer, my daughter in law would not have been able to give birth to our two lovely grandchildren and what I can hardly bare to think of, I would most likely have lost my husband. I have all good reasons for joining the global fight to Beat NCDs.