UN General Assembly

Update from events in New York

This week at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has been a very important week for global health and development, with the UN High-level Meeting on Disability and Development on Monday and the UN Special Event on the MDGs today. The NCD Alliance and partners have been active and engaged, following official discussions, participating in events and co-hosting side events in the margins.

Here is a digest of some of the highlights so far:

UN High-Level Meeting, Disability and Development, 23 September

A full day UN meeting entitled “The way forward: a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.” To read the Outcome Document, please click here.

At lunch time, the Permanent Missions of CARICOM, Costa Rica, Ecuador, New Zealand, PAHO/WHO and the NCD Alliance co-hosted a side event on NCDs and disability. The side event was very well attended and marked the launch of our new policy brief, Sustaining Equitable Human Development: Addressing Non-Communicable Diseases and Disability Throughout the Lifecourse. This policy brief was a collaborative effort between the NCD Alliance, Handicap International, HelpAge International, and Alzheimer’s Disease International.

NCD Alliance Side Event, Healthy Planet, Healthy People, 23 September

The United States Government and the CARICOM Community joined the NCD Alliance and the NCD Roundtable in co-hosting a side event entitled Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Building Synergies for Sustainable Development. Dr Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, moderated a lively panel discussion on the lessons learnt from the MDG era for health, the importance of NCDs in post-2015, and the challenges of integrating health across all dimensions of sustainable development.

UN Special Event on the MDGs, 25 September

Today, the President of the UN General Assembly hosted a special event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In the outcome document adopted by Member States, world leaders renewed their commitment to meet the MDGs and agreed to hold a high-level Summit in September 2015 to adopt the new post-2015 development agenda.

At today’s event, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented his report ‘A Life of Dignity for All,’ which outlines his vision for bold action to achieve the MDGs and for a new and responsive post-2015 agenda. The UNSG report recognises reducing the burden of NCDs as a priority for health in post-2015.

We will be providing more detailed analysis of the discussions and outcomes of the UNGA week from a NCD perspective shortly.

High-level Week kicks-off in New York

Monday 23rd September 2013

The UN General Assembly high-level week kicked off today, with the UN High Level Meeting on Disability and Development. A full day of Member State interventions and several side events showcased the need to integrate the needs of people with disabilities in both the current Millennium Development Goals and to ensure it is a priority for the future sustainable development agenda.

The theme of the High-level Meeting on Disability and Development (HLMDD) is “the way forward: a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.” For more information, including the proposed Outcome Document, please click here.

The NCD Alliance co-hosted a lunch time side event NCDs & Disability: Creating synergies, reducing inequalities, advancing development with the CARICOM Community, the Permanent Missions of Costa Rica, Ecuador and New Zealand, and with PAHO.

At this side event NCD Alliance Director Policy and Campaigns, Katie Dain, introduced our new policy brief Sustainable Equitable Development: Addressing Non-Communicable Diseases and Disability Throughout the Lifecourse. The policy brief has been produced in collaboration with Handicap International, HelpAge International, and Alzheimer’s Disease International.

The policy brief examines the nexus of issues of NCDs, disability and changing population dynamics. It demonstrates the interconnections between these three global challenges, and provides recommendations on how to ensure that the post-2015 development agenda fully integrates NCDs, that goals and targets drive progress for all people including disabilities, and that a life-course and rights-based approach underpins all goals and targets to ensure no one is left behind.

We will continue to provide updates on the UNGA week, including other NCDA events and the MDG Special Event on 25 September. Please continue to visit us on our website for updates on our activities during the week. In addition to this, please follow us on twitter through the hashtags on the side bar.

Tags UNGA UN General Assembly Meeting UN High Level Meeting on Disability and Development disability NCDA CARICOM MDGs Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

Last update

Friday 07 June 2019