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Jan 17 '23 - Jan 18 '23
WHO Small Island Developing States High-level Technical Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and Mental Health
The World Health Organization (WHO) Small Island Developing States (SIDS) High-level Technical Meeting on the prevention and control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Mental Health will take place from January 17 to 18, 2023. The meeting is organized by WHO Headquarters and the WHO Regional Office for the Americas in collaboration with the Government of Barbados, in a hybrid (virtual/in-person) format in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Date
17–18 January 2023
Time
09:00–17:30 Atlantic time (GMT -4)
Language
The working language of the meeting will be English, and interpretation will be provided in French and Spanish.
Background
The World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization and the Government of Barbados are co-hosting a high-level technical meeting on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health in recognition of the high burden of NCDs and the impact of climate and COVID-19 on health and economies in Small Island Developing States. The meeting will serve as a follow up to the virtual WHO SIDS Summit for Health held in July 2021 and will be a precursor to the Ministerial Conference on NCDs and mental health in SIDS due to be held in June 2023.
The SIDS High-Level Technical meeting will be webcast for virtual participants and will look to engage heads of state and government, ministers of health from the WHO SIDS Member States, as well as technical experts from key regional and subregional bodies; partner governments and agencies; civil society; youth; public–private partnerships and academia.
Purpose
The purpose of the meeting is to promote increased domestic action and international cooperation on NCDs and mental health in the SIDS, and to build political momentum for the SIDS Ministerial Conference on NCDs and Mental Health, to be held from 14 to 15 June 2023.
These are critical steps towards building and pursuing a collective vision and course of action for accelerating progress towards SDGs target 3.4 and 3.8 on universal health coverage in preparation for the second High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on UHC in 2023 and the fourth United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on NCDs in 2025.
The concept note, including the draft program, is available on the dedicated webpage at SIDS Technical meeting on NCDs and Mental Health 2023.
- Download the concept note, here.
- Download the general agenda, here.
Objectives
- To discuss progress, challenges, and opportunities to scale up multisectoral actions on NCDs and mental health to promote well-being, as part of the commitments made under the SIDS Health Summit 2021 and the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.
- To present and discuss the WHO NCD Implementation Roadmap 2030 and its application in SIDS countries, while considering priorities such as the impact of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, to accelerate national responses towards SDG target 3.4 on NCDs and mental health.
- To share experiences from SIDS countries on multisectoral and multistakeholder strategies, especially on NCDs and mental health as they relate to climate change, health emergencies, the COVID-19 pandemic, obesity prevention and food systems, among others; and to present the feasibility of adapting and applying these experiences in other countries.
- To discuss and identify key recommendations to be included in the outcome document to be endorsed/adopted by the subsequent SIDS ministerial meeting to scale up action on NCDs and mental health.
Expected outcome
A meeting report with key recommendations, to serve as the zero draft for the negotiated outcome document of the Ministerial Conference of SIDS on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and Mental Health in June 2023 which will again take place in Barbados.
On the road to 2025: The global NCD deadline
Looking ahead to the fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (HLM4) in 2025 when the World Health Assembly has settled on a deadline for a set of nine voluntary global targets for the prevention and control of NCDs.
Mandate
The Political Declaration of the third High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable diseases (resolution A/RES/73/2) authorizes the President of the United Nations General Assembly to convene the fourth high-level meeting on NCDs in 2025. The scope, modalities, format and organization of the high-level meeting on NCDs, including the dates, will be agreed upon by Member States through a separate resolution, which will be negotiated closer to the meeting.
What is at stake?
Every minute, 28 lives between the ages of 30 and 70 are cut short because countries have not taken policy, legislative and regulatory measures to respond to the needs of people living with or at risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, or mental health conditions, including preventive, curative, palliative, and specialized care.
Twenty-five (25) out of 28 lives lost each minute occur in low- and middle-income countries where the social, economic, and physical environments afford populations much lower levels of protection from the risks and consequences of NCDs than in high-income countries, including protection from tobacco use, alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical activity, and air pollution.
The fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs in 2025 will be a time to reflect on the tragic premature deaths from NCDs of 15 million people each year since the third high-level meeting took place in 2018 – projected to be more than a 100 million by 2025. It will also provide an opportunity to adopt a new, ambitious and achievable Political Declaration on NCDs based on evidence, grounded in human rights, that will serve as an important roadmap to advance the global NCD response between 2025 and 2030.
In the run up to the fourth High-level Meeting, WHO urges every country, nongovernmental organization (NGO), company, citizen and person living with an NCD to support local and global efforts to achieve the set of nine voluntary targets set by the World Health Assembly in 2013 for 2025, measured against a 2010 baseline. This will enable countries to achieve SDG target 3.4 (by 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being), measured against a 2025 baseline, and save at least eight million lives by 2030 in low-income countries alone.
WHO also encourages all countries to implement the commitments made by countries at the three high-level meetings on NCDs in 2011, 2014 and 2018 – and urges all donors to scale up much-needed financial and technical contributions for the prevention and control of NCDs through bilateral and multilateral channels, including WHO’s programme on NCDs and the relevant Trust Funds that have been established.
As we look ahead to the fourth High-level meeting of the UN General Assembly in 2025 to reduce the risk of dying prematurely from NCDs and save lives, let us remember that every one of us has a role to play in protecting people against risk factors of NCDs and bringing health care and medicines to all people living with NCDs who need it.
International leadership is building momentum to save lives and improve livelihoods with NCDs
In April 2022, the Government of Ghana, the Government of Norway and the World Health Organization co-hosted an “International Strategic Dialogue on NCDs and the SDGs”.
Key outcomes included the launch of the Global NCD Compact 2020–2030 to accelerate the progress towards the NCD and SDG targets. A Global Group of Heads of State and Government was formed with the aim to call on countries to align strategies and operations with universal commitments made to accelerate and scale up the global collective efforts to prevent and control NCDs and achieve UHC. The Global Group will meet annually during the High-level general debate of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2022 towards 2025.
