Economic insecurity, persisting inequalities, and climate and humanitarian disasters all marked 2022, but NCDA remains confident that gains made are bringing us closer to a world that promotes health, protects rights, and saves lives. Read more in this message from NCDA President Anne Lise Ryel and CEO Katie Dain.

2022 presented a mixture of opportunities and challenges, old and new. COVID-19 continued to disproportionately impact on people living with NCDs, whilst efforts to rebuild and strengthen the international pandemic prevention and preparedness agenda provided opportunities to reinforce the importance of NCDs to this agenda.

The ripple effects of the pandemic continue to be seen in countries worldwide, jeopardising hard-fought gains across the Sustainable Development Goals and in NCDs, and contributing to widespread economic crises that threaten lives and livelihoods. Never before has there been such an urgent need for a strong investment case for action on NCDs, as economic recessions loom and government purse strings tighten. Insecurity, conflict and humanitarian disasters were on the rise in nation after nation in 2022, with extreme weather due to climate change increasingly common, and pervasive and persistent inequalities.

Millions of people living with NCDs are caught in the epicentre of these intersecting crises, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable. For the last 13 years, the NCD Alliance has worked tirelessly with civil society, people living with NCDs, governments and all actors to ensure everyone can live a healthy and productive life, free from the preventable suffering, stigma, disability and death caused by NCDs. In 2022 we remained steadfast against this vision and our conviction that progress is possible.

2022 marked the second year of implementation of our long-term strategy 2021-2026. All of our work at NCDA from global to local is focused on achieving progress against four thematic impact goals – prevention, care, financing and community engagement. For the first time, our Annual Report is structured around these four impact goals, highlighting progress, achievements and results from across the year.

Our blueprint for action as the leading global civil society organisation on NCDs is driving advocacy and accountability of institutions at the global level, working at the grassroots level to support civil society and people living with NCDs, promoting knowledge and best practice on NCDs, and catalysing multisectoral action and impactful partnerships.

2022 has shown yet again the resilience and strength of NCDA’s membership and partners, who are integral to all of NCDA’s achievements and work. Our membership base continues to thrive and grow despite COVID-19, contributing to important policy developments for NCDs at national and global level, raising awareness of the issues in communities and at the political level, delivering health services for people living with NCDs, and leading coalitions that are impatient for change.

We are, as ever, thankful to our partners who provide invaluable support year in and year out to NCDA and our mission. And thank you to the NCDA Board of Directors who have contributed so positively to the oversight and strategic direction of NCDA.

The geo-political shifts that swept the world in 2022 look set to continue and the impact they are going to have on the lives of people living with NCDs must not be underestimated. We know we have our work cut out, but we are proud of our achievements and optimistic that progress is being made towards a world that promotes health, protects rights, and saves lives.

*This message is taken from NCDA’s 2022 Annual Report. You can read the full Annual Report here.

Read the Annual Report 2022

About the authors

Anne Lise Ryel has been a NCDA Board member for 2019-2021. She was Secretary General of the Norwegian Cancer Society (NCS) for 18 years until 2020, championing the fight against cancer and NCDs nationally and internationally. She established the Norwegian NCD Alliance in 2010. She has a multisectoral background: A lawyer by training working in the private sector; as the Norwegian Gender Equality Ombudsman; a Deputy Director General at the Norwegian Directorate of Health; and in politics as Deputy Minister at the Norwegian Ministry of Justice. Anne Lise has been chair/ member of numerous boards and expert groups over the last 30 years, including Board member at Union for International Cancer Control (UICC); board member of European Cancer League; member of WHO GCM/NCD Working group on private sector involvement; Steering Group member of WHO Community of Practice on Meaningful Involvement of PLWNCDs; and CEDAW Committee monitoring UN Human Rights Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Katie Dain is Chief Executive Officer of the NCD Alliance, and has worked with NCDA since its founding in 2009. Katie is widely recognised as a leading advocate and expert on NCDs. She co-chairs the WHO Civil Society Working Group on NCDs, and has served as a commissioner on the WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs, The Lancet Commission on NCDIs of the Poorest Billion, The Lancet Commission on Global Oral Health, and The Rockefeller-Boston University Commission on Health Determinants, Data and Decision-making. She is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Access to NCD Medicines and Products. Her experience covers a range of sustainable development issues, including global health, gender equality and women’s empowerment, violence against women, and women’s health. Before joining the NCD Alliance, she held a series of policy and advocacy posts in international NGOs and government, including the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Brussels; the UK Government as a gender policy adviser; Womankind Worldwide; and the Terrence Higgins Trust.