New York – The NCD Alliance, a network of more than 2,000 non-government organizations tackling non-communicable diseases (NCDs), today welcomed two new studies aimed at helping decision makers in low- and middle-income countries reduce the growing burden of NCDs. 

South Africa has set targets to radically reduce NCDs through a set of time-bound commitments, including a target to reduce salt intake to less than 5 g/day by per person by 2020. These targets were announced at a recent National Summit on NCDs held on 12-13 September ahead of next week's UN High-Level Meeting. President Jacob Zuma will be attending the High-Level Meeting and is expected to announce these commitments to member states.

In early 2009, a meeting was held in Geneva between the World Health Organization (WHO) Stop TB Department and Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion, the World Diabetes Foundation and The Union to discuss how to respond to the growing threat of diabetes-associated tuberculosis. Now after much collaborative work between these and other stakeholders, the WHO/Union Collaborative Framework for Care and Control of TB and Diabetes has been launched.