The 63rd UN DPI/NGO Conference 2010
The theme of the conference was “Advance Global Health: Achieve the MDGs”. The meeting was a great success, with over 350 NGOs and 1600 individuals attending.
The NCD Alliance supported five workshops during this conference. UICC sponsored the "Enhancing Access to Medicines - A Crucial Step in Reaching the MDGs" workshop and cosponsored "Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Developing World - Exploding the Myths" and "Overcome Barriers to Achieving the MDGs: Tackling Tobacco Use and Non-Communicable Diseases" workshops.
Sir George Alleyne, distinguished scholar and currently serving as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, delivered a wonderful speech during the closing ceremony, emphasizing the need to address the growing burden of NCDs (www.viostream.com).
NCDs, including cancer, are now included in the final declaration from the conference that was presented to the UN Secretary General. This declaration states that “Millions of people die prematurely of non communicable diseases, as well as TB, malaria and complications of AIDS every year" and also calls the international community “to ensure governments respect and implement existing international covenants and agreements that will make major improvements to health such as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control”.
Kiyo Akasaka, UN Under-Secretary-General, received the declaration and mentioned it would be useful in informing the debate at the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit taking place on September 20th in New York. The Melbourne UN DPI/ NGO Conference helped provide more momentum for the NCD advocacy movement, as we gear up for the High Level UN Meeting on the prevention and control of NCDs next year.
Source:
Kiti Kajana, MPH | Non-communicable Disease Program Manager , UICC.
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