United Nations high-level meetings on NCD prevention and control

Abstract

This chapter describes the three high-level meetings on the four main NCDs (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease) that took place at the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, 2014 and 2018. These meetings recognized the crucial roles of whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to preventing and controlling NCDs, i.e. that NCDs are not an issue that the health sector can tackle on its own and that NCDs have a large impact on socio-economic development beyond health. Through the 2011 Political Declaration, Heads of State and Government committed to reducing exposure to risk factors in the population and creating health-promoting environments; strengthening national policies and health systems to better manage these NCDs among individuals at risk or with NCDs; promoting international cooperation, including developing partnerships, research and development; and monitoring and evaluation. The second high-level meeting in 2014 took stock of progress since 2011. The 2018 Political Declaration expanded the NCD agenda to include mental health and air pollution - moving from '4 NCDs × 4 risk factors’ to '5 × 5'). The chapter also describes indicators to chart progress and the impact of the commitments made at these meetings.