WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DRAFTS ACTION PLAN
The World Health Organization has drafted an action plan for the implementation of its global strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease and the other major noncommunicable diseases.
On 16 January 2008, Director General Margaret Chan presented the draft action plan to the World Health Organization’s Executive Board, which is composed of 34 member states.
Having received the Executive Board’s comments, Dr Chan will submit an amended version of the draft action plan to the Sixty-first World Health Assembly when it convenes 19-24 May 2008 in Geneva.
Global burden continues to grow
Entitled Prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases: implementation of the global strategy, the 23-page draft action plan recognizes that the “global burden of noncommunicable diseases continues to grow” and that “tackling it constitutes one of the major challenges for development in the twenty-first century”.
Cardiovascular disease and the other major noncommunicable diseases – diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease – accounted for 60% of deaths in 2005. Eighty per cent of the deaths from the diseases occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Total deaths from the noncommunicable diseases are projected to increase by 17% over the next decade.
“The rapidly increasing incidence of these diseases is affecting poor and disadvantaged populations disproportionately, contributing to widening health gaps between and within countries,” the draft action plan states.
The draft action plan, which builds on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, “sets out objectives, actions, a time frame and performance indicators” to guide “Member States, the Secretariat and international partners…on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases between 2008 and 2013 at global and regional levels”.
The draft action plan lists six objectives. They are to:
- Raise awareness of noncommunicable diseases and advocate for their prevention and control.
- Establish or strengthen, as appropriate, national policies and plans for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
- Promote specific measures and interventions to reduce the main shared risk factors for noncommunicable diseases: tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol.
- Promote research for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
- Promote partnerships for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
- Establish systems for tracking global progress in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
The draft action plan was produced at the request of the Sixtieth World Health Assembly, which met in May 2007 in Geneva.
Dr Chan sees “deep concern” about “rise of chronic diseases”
In her opening speech to the Executive Board, Dr Chan lauded the willingness of international donors to invest in health systems and primary health care.
“Countries in all regions are very deeply concerned about the rise of chronic diseases,” she said. “The impact is now being felt in very poor countries, where we see morbidity from conditions such as hypertension and diabetes side by side with high mortality from infectious diseases. We see severe malnutrition and stunting side by side with obesity.”
Global Prevention Alliance welcomes plan
The Global Alliance for the Prevention of Obesity and Related Chronic Diseases – of which the World Heart Federation is one of five founding nongovernmental organizations – welcomed the draft action plan and congratulated Dr Chan for her leadership.
In particular, the Alliance lauded the recommendations to “enact policies to encourage healthier food consumption and greater access to physical activity, and legislation to promote healthier food composition by decreasing saturated fats, eliminating industrial trans-fats and reducing salt content”.
At the same time, the Alliance urged the World Health Organization to consider forming an intergovernmental group to develop recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children as proposed by the 60th World Health Assembly.
The World Heart Federation is actively involved in the consultation process, which is designed to deliver a final draft of the action plan to the World Health Assembly in May 2008.
To read the World Health Organization’s draft action plan visit: http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB122/B122_9-en.pdf
To read Dr Chan’s opening speech to the Executive Board visit: http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2008/20080121_eb/en/print.html
