WHO Launches Global Leaders NCDs Coalition
The President of Uruguay and WHO will be launching a ‘Coalition of Heads of State and Government for the prevention and control of NCDs and the promotion of mental health and well-being’ on September 25, 2019 at the United Nations in New York City on the occasion of the UN SDG Summit.
The purpose of the Coalition is to support Heads of State and Government in their efforts to adopt bold public policies to accelerate progress towards SDG target 3.4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The concrete SDG target is to:
by 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from NCDs through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being”.
The coalition promises new momentum also alcohol policy formulation and implementation and awareness campaigns on alcohol harm.
The Coalition is anchored in the 2018 Political Declaration of the third high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
Announcing the Coalition for the first time on September 27, 2018,
Today, I am proposing to create a coalition of champions that will catalyse a global movement at the highest political levels to make bold choices NCDs. The Coalition will ask all political leaders globally to commit to 3 to 5 years of intensive efforts to rapidly implement WHO’s best buys and drive progress towards SDG target 3.4,” said the WHO Director-General, as per WHO.
Conceptual framework includes action on alcohol
A letter inviting all Member States to consider joining the Coalition at the level of Heads of State and Government, as well as a conceptual framework (pdf) setting out the scope and purpose of the Coalition, is available via the WHO Website.
The conceptual framework contains a commitment to action on alcohol, one of the major risk factor for NCDs.
The scope of the Coalition includes the four main types of NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) and their four shared modifiable risk factors (tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol), as well as mental health disorders and other mental health conditions, and indoor and outdoor air pollution.”
In joining the Coalition, Heads of State and Government recognize the need to act politically. Therefore, they agree to take forward a national political process towards a reduction in the risk of premature deaths from NCDs. This includes:
- Establishing or strengthening a national multisectoral mechanism for engagement of different spheres of policymaking that have a bearing on NCDs;
- Implementing one or two additional interventions from the set of “WHO best buys and other recommended interventions for the prevention and control of NCDs” that include alcohol; and
- Implementing one or two additional mass and social media campaigns that educate people about the harms of smoking/tobacco use and second-hand smoke, the harmful use of alcohol, the excessive intake of fats, sugars and salt, and/or promote the intake of fruits and vegetables, as well as physical activity.
