It’s two months until 2021’s Global Week for Action on NCDs, taking place from 6-12 September, and we hope you are getting ready to demonstrate this year’s theme: the power of communities to act together and drive change! Learn more about the 2021 theme here.

We encourage you to be creative in deciding how to get involved with activities that are relevant and appealing for you and your community, but below you will find some ideas to help you start planning. You can also find more suggestions for taking action – small or big – on the campaign website. You are welcome to use them, or just get some inspiration!

• Use traditional and social media to make noise, demand change, and put issues, insights and solutions in front of policy makers. Be inspired by some sample messages in the Social Media Toolkit.
• Coordinate civil society action with those representing people left behind, such as youth and Indigenous communities, and those working on achieving other Sustainable Development Goals related to human rights, the environment, education and poverty, to cultivate coherent approaches and collaboration.
• Team up with legal experts to see how a rights angle could accelerate NCD action. This could involve exploring existing commitments made by governments to rights and equity, and then taking legal measures for failure to meet them.
• Raise awareness by speaking out against injustice in health and NCDs, supporting your argument with evidence and personal stories.
• Promote the Act on NCDs campaign in your country as per the Act on NCDs Brand Guidelines. We’ve created various resources for you to use in several languages to ensure campaigns everywhere are recognised as being part of the same global movement.

These are just a few ways that you and your community could take action to deliver progress on NCDs. Whichever way you choose to participate in this year’s Global Week for Action on NCDs, please keep us posted! In August, the Map of Impact will go live on the website and you will be able to add your activities for the world to see and join in. The Voices of Change generator will also be back soon so you and your networks can share your messages through the campaign website and social media.

Stay tuned for more guides, tools and resources as the week approaches – and get planning! Everyone in society plays a critical role in accelerating progress on achieving better health for all, and everyone has the right to participate in decision making about what affects them – including their health.

Together we are stronger! This September, let’s all move towards a world where everyone enjoys equal rights to health.