Commonwealth leaders issue groundbreaking action statement on NCDs
On 29 November, leaders from 54 countries at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago jointly called for NCD indicators to be included in the Millennium Development Goals Review Summit at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2010.
The Commonwealth – which represents 30 percent of the world’s population – is also pressing the United Nations General Assembly to hold a special session to address the burden of NCDs.
These calls to action count as a major success for the NCD alliance, comprised of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the World Heart Federation (WHF).
“Through the combined voice of the Commonwealth heads of government, NCDs are finally getting the deserved attention and support of some of the world’s leading policymakers,” said UICC President David Hill. “This is a vital step forward in the global fight against cancer and other NCDs so we are thrilled with the results of the meeting and thank the Commonwealth heads of government for their commitment to the issue.”
In the lead-up to the Commonwealth meeting in the Port of Spain, IDF, UICC and WHF issued a letter (pdf) asking its heads of state to recognize that NCDs are a major barrier to international development, causing 60 percent of all global deaths.
At the World Health Assembly in Geneva on 19 May, IDF partnered with its sister federations in cancer and heart disease to push for international action to combat the epidemic of NCDs. Together, the three federations have a global network that comprises 780 member associations in more than 170 countries.
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