The Global Week for Action kicks off next week! Are you ready to #ActOnNCDs?
30th August 2022
This year’s Global Week for Action on NCDs kicks off on 5 September, and we are inviting everyone to get involved and call for increased investment in NCD prevention and treatment. Find out more!
The Global Week for Action on NCDs unites the NCD community every September, concentrating our combined efforts to help reduce the NCD burden globally and improve health and equity for all.
This year, the campaign spotlights the need for increased and urgent investment so that NCDs are given the attention, prevention, treatment and care that they need. The campaign calls on everyone, everywhere to take action and be a force for change. From posting on social media, to contacting local politicians and policy makers, to organising a health-promoting event for your community, no action is too small; no voice is insignificant.
Lack of resources and investment in NCD prevention and care is costing the world millions of lives and dollars each year. Yet, there are powerful and cost-effective actions that countries can take to turn the tide on NCDs. An investment of less than US$1 per person per year in cost- effective measures to prevent and treat NCDs could save 7 million lives in LMICs, add a total of 50 million years of healthy life, and help realize US$230 billion in economic gains by 2030.
For decades, NCDs have remained one of the most underfunded global health issues relative to the billions of people impacted—with a paltry 1-2% of total development assistance for health dedicated to NCDs in the past 20 years.
In 2022, we are calling on governments, donors, international agencies and the private sector to bridge this investment gap and address the fundamental mismatch between the healthcare needs and rights of people living with NCDs, and the resources allocated to respond.
The bottom line is this: investing in NCD prevention and care will translate to longer, healthier lives for people everywhere, strengthen each person’s equal right to health, and save countries money.
How to get involved?
We have plenty of suggestions on how to get involved - for those who have just a minute and those who are able to dedicate more time - and the resources to support.
For instance, download our social media toolkit, with lots of ready-to-tweet posts included, or create and share a Voice of Change card about how NCDs impact your life.
Or, get more involved by reading our policy brief on NCD financing, with all the key facts and figures, and share them through an event or your own advocacy.
Our Practical Guide to Strategic Advocacy is full of tips and case studies from alliances’ on-the-ground experiences. You can also take a look at our Actions for Alliances toolkit.
No action is too small, no voice is insignificant - if we are going to achieve the big changes we want to see, we need everyone to act. Tackling the world’s biggest cause of death and disability is an ambitious goal, but it’s not an impossible one.
Virtual Event
As a part of the activities planned for the week, a virtual event will seek to start the discussion on what success at the Second WHO Global NCD Financing Dialogue in 2023 might look like, and what it will take to achieve this.
Co-hosted by the World Health Organization, World Diabetes Foundation and NCD Alliance, the event will unpack the priorities set out in the NCDA financing brief “Invest to Protect: NCD financing as the foundation for healthy societies and economies”.
Opening and closing remarks by Dr Tedros, Director-General, World Health Organization, Mr Michael Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries, Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the NCD Department, World Health Organization and Katie Dain, CEO, NCD Alliance.
When: Thursday 8 September, 09:30 – 11:00 EDT / 15:30 – 17:00 CET. Simultaneous translation to Spanish and French will be available.
Thank you for being part of the 2022 Global Week for Action on NCDs. The more committed people who #ActOnNCDs, the greater difference we can make, together!
