Now that the High-level Meeting is over, what is next?

Dear ProCor community,

The Lancet recently published a commentary that provides a succinct outline of how the global NCD community should move forward now that the UN High-level Meeting on NCDs has passed.

Measured by the Political Declaration, the High-level Meeting was successful. The Political Declaration critically positions NCDs as a development issue and not just a health issue; it recognizes the tremendous health and economic impact NCDs place on countries, particularly low-income countries; and it stresses the importance of research and development and international cooperation. Most importantly, the Political Declaration provides a way roadmap for the global NCD community to move forward.

The commentary suggests two immediate post-Meeting actions: the Political Declaration needs to be distributed as widely as possible, and the NCD community should push towards implementing the four key short-term commitments outlined in the Declaration. The commitments include "the development of a comprehensive global monitoring framework, including voluntary global targets and national indicators by the end of 2012; the preparation of options by the end of 2012 for an effective partnership to carry forward multisectoral actions; the strengthening of multisectoral national policies and plans for the prevention and treatment of NCDs by 2013 and their implementation; and the preparation of a report on the commitments in the Declaration as the basis of a comprehensive review by 2014." The commentary goes on to discuss each short-term commitment in detail and shows that some of the work towards implementing these commitments are already in place, and with continued political support, NCDs will remain central to global development.

"NCDs: Celebrating success, moving forward"
R Beaglehole, R Bonita, G Alleyne, R Horton
The Lancet 2011 378(9799): 1283-1284 (open access)
http://bit.ly/qJ6l52

Date Posted: 14 October 2011