COMMONWEALTH LEADERS ISSUE LANDMARK STATEMENT ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASESThe Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held from 27–29 November 2009 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The CHOGM represents a unique opportunity for Commonwealth countries to raise concerns about the key issues that affect their economic and social development. In an unprecedented move, and thanks to lobbying efforts by World Heart Federation members in these countries together with those of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) a separate statement highlighting Commonwealth action to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) specifically was issued. The statement acknowledged the magnitude of disease burden and underlined the Commonwealth’s commitment to advocate for better recognition of this issue on the global health agenda. Lobbying members of the Commonwealth in the run up to the meetingNCDs are a public health issue that seriously affect the health of millions of people living in the Commonwealth States. The CHOGM itself coincided with significant developments in NCD advocacy. Progress towards raising the profile of NCDs on the global health and development agenda has been made and proposals to push for the inclusion of NCD indicators in the Millenium Development Goals Review Summit, taking place at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2010, are being prepared. Yet there is still a very long way to go. This is why the World Heart Federation in alliance with the IDF and the UICC coordinated a global campaign, which involved asking our respective member organizations to lobby their CHOGM representatives and get them to acknowledge the rising burden of NCDs around the world. Regarded as a major global health emergency threatening the economic and social development of Commonwealth countries, NCDs cause 35 million deaths each year, 80% of which now occur in low- and middle-income countries. This campaign, relayed by the three organizations’ Presidents and members in the Commonwealth States, underlined that greater efforts must be made to address the social and economic burden that NCDs are placing on countries that are least equipped to deal with them. Integrating the prevention of NCDs into the global health and development agendas is not only achievable but also a priority for developing countries. It pointed out that The Millennium Development Goals, despite having stated health is critical to the economic, political and social development of all countries, do not contain goals or targets for NCDs, the largest burden of disease in low-income countries. The IDF, UICC and World Heart Federation thus reached out to the CHOGM to issue a call for NCD indicators to be accepted at the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Review Summit and express support for a UN General Assembly Special Session on NCDs. How our coordinated efforts made it happenWe are pleased to announce that this campaign was extremely successful as on the 29 November 2009, in addition to the CHOGM final communiqué summarizing the highlights and main decisions of the meeting, a separate statement on Commonwealth Action to Combat Non-communicable Diseases was issued. It acknowledged the magnitude of the NCD burden and underlined the Commonwealth’s commitment to advocate for better recognition of this issue on the global health agenda. A separate Commonwealth statement on the occasion of the CHOGM is a rare occurrence. Ann Keeling, CEO of the IDF, was delighted with this outcome and believes “it is one more step towards funding for the essential medicines needed to turn around the growing epidemic of diabetes and other NCDs in low- and middle-income countries. 285 million people globally now have diabetes. With a combination of medicines and lifestyle change we can cut the human cost of 14 million premature deaths from NCDs annually.” Cary Adams, UICC CEO, stated that the Commonwealth’s “recognition that NCDs are posing a very real and immediate threat to the health of millions of people around the world each year will help to position the issue more prominently on the global health agenda and see policy change for the better.” The World Heart Federation is delighted that this positive step has been taken. In expressing its support for the fight against NCDs, the Commonwealth stated that we will “work to fully integrate NCD prevention and control into (their) national health systems” and that “the incidence and burden of NCDs can be reduced through comprehensive and integrated preventive and control strategies at the individual, family, community, national and regional levels”. Furthermore, the World Heart Federation is proud to see that the Commonwealth has added its powerful voice in the battle for the inclusion of NCDs in the MDGs and call a special UN session on the matter: “We similarly declare our support for the call to integrate indicators to monitor the magnitude, trend and socio-economic impact of NCDs into the core MDG monitoring and evaluation system during the MDG Review Summit in 2010. We further call for a Summit on NCDs to be held in September 2011, under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly, in order to develop strategic responses to these diseases and their repercussions”. Helen Alderson, CEO of the World Heart Federation said “This success was made possible thanks to our members, whose precious support and active participation helped make the Commonwealth States truly aware of the real impact of NCDs on global health. Thanks to this hard work and lobbying efforts, an official intergovernmental body has come to recognize that NCDs are the greatest health threat of today and tomorrow, and pledged its support in the fight against this epidemic. The World Heart Federation will make sure this is only the start and that many other advocates join us along the way”. | |||||||
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