Three national and regional NCD alliances have received the 2020 Sharjah Award for Excellence in NCD Civil Society Action at the Global NCDA Forum for their initiatives to advance the NCD agenda. Vietnam NCDA, Slovenia NCDA and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition received the honour during the Forum’s Closing Ceremony on Tuesday. 

The alliances were judged by an independent advisory committee to have the best case studies focused on one of the Forum’s three sub-themes:

• Saving lives through transformative policies and solutions
• Building demand through transformative social movements and voices of change
• Enhancing accountability through transformative and inclusive governance

Vietnam NCD Alliance submitted the case study, ‘Advocacy for a law on prevention and control of alcohol-related harms’; Slovenia NCD Alliance submitted ‘No Excuse as a Slovenian Youth NCD Alliance’ and Healthy Carribean Coalition’s case study was ‘Civil Society Accountability Framework for Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies in the Caribbean’. 

The Awards were presented by HE Mrs Sawsan Jafar, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Friends of Cancer Patients, United Arab Emirates of the Forum’s local host organisation, Friends of Cancer Patients, and Todd Harper, President of the NCD Alliance. 

The Forum provided a prime opportunity to unite and mobilise NCD civil society to monitor governments’ progress and advocate for action to implement global pledges five years ahead of the next UN HLM and the 2025 date for globally agreed NCD targets.