Global burden of noncommunicable diseases
Tackling the global burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is one of the major challenges for development in the 21st century.
The "Action plan for the global strategy for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases", endorsed at the 61st World Health Assembly last May, is a major step towards meeting that challenge. The foundation for the action plan is the global strategy for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (2000), whose aim is to reduce premature mortality and improve quality of life. The plan also builds on the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003, and the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, endorsed by the Health Assembly a year later in 2004.
The 2008 action plan was discussed by the WHO Executive Board at its 122nd session in January 2008, and during an informal consultation with Member States, held in Geneva on 29 February 2008. In addition, the views of nongovernmental organizations and representatives of the food and non-alcoholic beverages industry were gathered at two separate meetings organized for that purpose. The World Heart Federation participated in the NGOs consultation process.
Within the six-year NCD action plan, six objectives and numerous actions are proposed for WHO Member States, WHO Secretariat and international partners, with the purpose of mapping emerging epidemics of NCDs, reducing exposure to NCD risk factors in countries and strengthening health care for people with NCDs.
The six objectives of the NCD action plan are:
- Raise the priority accorded to NCDs in development work at global and national levels, and integrate prevention of such diseases into policies across all government departments;
- Establish and strengthen national policies and plans for the prevention and control of NCDs;
- Promote interventions to reduce the main common 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; and
- Monitor noncommunicable diseases and their determinants and evaluate progress at the national, regional and global levels.
WHO is to establish an NCD advisory group which will provide strategic and technical input, and conduct external reviews of the progress made by WHO and its partners in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
The implementation of the six-year action plan will be reviewed towards the end of the first biennium, in 2009, and reprogrammed with a detailed time frame for the second and third bienniums.
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