Scaling up NCD action in Francophone Africa
26th August 2019
Participants of the Regional Workshop on NCDs organised by the NCD Alliance in Dakar, Senegal, in June 2019 © NCD Alliance
Over 15 representatives of civil society organisations from Francophone Africa adopted the Dakar Declaration on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) last week, committing to joining forces to fight NCDs in the region.
The NCD Alliance organised a Regional Workshop on NCDs for Francophone Africa in June 2019 in Dakar, Senegal, to promote greater civil society coordination and mobilisation on NCDs in the region. The workshop was attended by 20 representatives of organisations and alliances from Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Togo, Cameroon, Niger, Rwanda and Senegal. One strategic outcome of the workshop was the decision from participants to form a Steering Committee to draft a Dakar Declaration, which was then shared to the rest of the group and approved on 15 August.
This Declaration is supported by the NCD Alliance, and aims to scale up civil society and governments' actions on the prevention and control of NCDs. The signatories recognise the important role played by civil society in the fight against NCDs, and call on civil society in Francophone Africa to work together in advocacy and awareness campaigns on NCD prevention and control. The Dakar Declaration also calls on governments to translate the Political Declaration adopted at the 3rd United Nations High-level (UN HLM) Meeting on NCDs in September 2018 into national action and policies, as well as to ensure the success of the 1st UN HLM on Universal Health Coverage in September 2019, by requesting a participation at the highest level of Heads of State and Government of Francophone African countries, with the aim of promoting quality health services and integrated social services, meeting the needs of all people throughout their lives, encompassing all care (from prevention to palliative care), and aiming at improving the efficiency and equity of public health financing.
The signatories of the Dakar Declaration will be disseminating it at the national and regional levels, and will use it as a key advocacy tool for stronger civil society mobilisation and greater political action on NCDs in Francophone Africa.
