Spotlight on Martin Heine

ECTMIH 2023 Local Organising Committee: Martin Heine

Last week we spoke with ECTMIH 2023 Local Organising Committee member - and Chair of the ECTMIH Academy / Education Sub-Committee - Dr Martin Heine to hear about his work and his hopes for this year's Congress:

Martin is an Assistant Professor in Global Health at the University Medical Centre Utrecht and research fellow at the Institute of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. 

His research focusses on implementation research for strengthening access to non-communicable disease management and secondary prevention services in low-resource settings. He is a collaborator on the iHeartSA multi-stakeholder project on the integrated management of HIV and Hypertension, as well as the European funded SCUBY project on integrated management of diabetes and hypertension. 

He is academic editor for PLoS Global Public Health and sits on the editorial board for the South African Journal of Physiotherapy. In 2020, he was selected as emerging leader by the World Heart Federation, and steering committee member for the International Cardiac Rehabilitation Registry.

Some key takeaways from Martin:

The rationale for including a non-communicable diseases (NCDs) focus in ECTMIH 2023

About 80% of premature mortality due to chronic disease or NCDs is found in low to middle-income countries (LMICs) - and people that have infectious disease are more likely to be at risk for chronic disease. Much progress has been made in the prevention and management of infectious disease and this has in part led to the burden of NCDs taking a greater proportion of the total disease burden in LMICs.

Some topics Martin would like to see in the NCD track of the ECTMIH 2023 programme

Research that has a strong focus on implementation, particularly in complex and low-resource environments. Also intersectoral research for NCD management and prevention, including non-healthcare interventions.

Martin's vision for the inaugural ECTMIH Academy taking place 19-20 November

The Academy will offer up to 50 trans-disciplinary workshops on creative skills and competency development on topics around planetary health, NCDs and other tracks in the ECTMIH 2023 programme.

Check out Martin's full interview here: