News Release: First global target on non-communicable diseases demands a reduction in preventable deaths by 25% by 2025. Read the full news release.
Follow #WHA65 (click here) for the latest updates from the 65th World Health Assembly.
NCD Student Advocates
The NCD Alliance is working with a group of fifteen Graduate students from the University of Southern California to help get the message out on the need for global action on NCDs. Follow their tweets here and read their latest blogs on the week's events here.
Side Events
The officlal WHO list of side events can be found here. Other documentation can be found here.
Take Action
We are hearing conflicting messages from Member States as to whether any decision on NCD targets will be made this week. Some say nothing will be decided; some say five will be adopted; some say this includes one on access to essential medicines.
There is still time to influence the decisions made. The NCD Alliance has issued this media release to draw attention to the need for Member States to agree to ten targets – not a reduced set of five. At the very least, governments should adopt an overall target next week to reducing preventable NCD deaths by 25% by 2025.
Join us in calling on member states to:
Adopt global NCD targets: The adoption of global targets on NCDs at WHA is a critical step toward fulfilling the commitments agreed in the Political Declaration on NCDs and marks the first time that governments will unite in achieving a set of common goals in the fight against NCDs. These proposed targets could improve the lives of the tens of millions of people living with NCDs. We are calling on governments to:
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Adopt an overall target to reducing preventable deaths due to NCDs by 25% by 2025 this May and set a target for a minimum of 80% availability of affordable, quality-assured essential NCD medicines and technologies.
- Reinstate and adopt the targets recommend by WHO on alcohol, trans-fats, obesity, multidrug therapy and salt reduction and agree to reporting progress every two years.
Establish a Global Coordinating Platform for NCDs: This platform will unite governments, UN agencies, civil society, and the private sector (with safeguards against conflict of interest) in the fight against NCDs. The global platform should have the mandate to develop the global plan for NCDs (more information here).
Frame NCDs in the larger context of global development: Immediately following WHA is the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20. Governments must arrive in Rio de Janeiro at the end of June with full recognition that the prevention and control of NCDs is necessary to achieving sustainable human development. Outcomes from Rio+20 must reflect this reality and include health and NCDs as a priority on the sustainable development agenda