Commentary: Setting priorities in NCD prevention and control

Abstract

Decision making in health requires the use of sound evidence and context-specific information, guided by a priority setting methodology or framework. For noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention and control, a decision-making methodology has been applied by the World Health Organization to delineate priorities, and options for cost-effective NCD interventions. A set of 14 interventions considered very cost-effective, affordable and feasible for implementation in various resource level settings were identified. Among them, tobacco control through taxation, bans on tobacco advertising, plain packaging, and smoke free public spaces stands out as perhaps the single most important interventions to tackle NCDs.