Patient advocates have called for greater involvement in the design and delivery of strategies to prevent and manage non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and chronic diseases, at the International Alliance of Patients' Organizations (IAPO) African Regional Network Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting was held with the support of two South African patient groups: the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) and the Patients' Health Alliance of NGOs (PHANGO).

A landmark global alliance between leading scientists and the NCD Alliance brings together evidence from a 5-year collaboration with nearly 100 of the world's leading NCD experts and proposes a short-list of five priority interventions to tackle this increasing global crisis: Reducing tobacco and salt use, improving diets and physical activity, reducing hazardous alcohol intake, and achieving universal access to essential drugs and technologies.

NCDs were under the spotlight in Canberra on the 2nd of March, when the Australian counterpart of the NCD Alliance - “Australians for Global Action on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)”- met with parliamentarians and senior health and aid officials to discuss the global emergency caused by the diseases. It was recognized at the forum that the diseases pose a major barrier to global, social and economic development, exacerbating poverty and increasing health inequities both between and within countries.