Four heads of state, numerous government ministers and renowned global health leaders have been named to the Independent Global High-level Commission on NCDs, an encouraging sign of political commitment ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs later this year.

The NCDA CEO Katie Dain has also been named as a commissioner.

The commission is being co-chaired by:

• Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland
• Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka
• Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay
• Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Healthcare, Russian Federation
• Sania Nishtar, former Federal Minister of Pakistan and civil society leader.

"The NCD response is primed, but success will require the combined forces of individual political champions and political blocs."
- NCDA CEO Katie Dain.

"The NCD response is primed, said Katie Dain, "but success will require the combined forces of individual political champions and political blocs. We saw the impact of the G-20 in 2017 under German leadership prioritise global health for the first time. The NCD Alliance and others are pushing for this to continue this year under the presidency of Argentina and in 2019 under Japan, with NCDs as a specific focus."

The mandate of the commission, which will run until October 2019, is to advise the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros on bold and practical recommendations, and new opportunities, for countries to accelerate progress on NCDs. This is in line with the Agenda for Sustainable Development target of a one-third reduction in premature NCD deaths by 2030.

The NCDA recently released its process priorities and campaign priorities for the HLM, whose dates have not been confirmed. It has prepared other advocacy materials for action ahead of the meeting.

See all the NCDA advocacy materials for the HLM.