WHO Says Progress On Noncommunicable Diseases Is “Insufficient And
Uneven” In 194 Countries Committed To Reduce Premature Mortality By
25% By 2025
Every year 38
million die from noncommunicable diseases, nearly 16 million of them
prematurely before they reach the age of 70. Meeting for the second
time since 2011 in New York this month, UN Member States learned
from the World Health Organization that progress in tackling major
chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and
chronic lung disease has been “insufficient and uneven” since 2011
when a UN political declaration was issued. The declaration was
considered a watershed event at that time because 194 UN Member
States pledged to combat avoidable noncommunicable diseases and
preventable deaths.
At the high level
meeting this month, countries renewed their commitment to take bold
measures called for by the Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon.
He told the delegates that “success will depend on finding new ways
to strengthen the ability of countries to adopt bolder measures.”
Straight Talk From
WHO Director
Just how bold and
challenging the needed measures will be was made clear in some of
the remarks made by WHO Director Margaret Chan in her opening
address. In a candid and straightforward address, she made several
sobering statements and painted several tough challenges ahead for
the participating countries. Below are some of the key excerpts from
her address.
I see no lack of commitment. I see a lack of capacity
to act, especially in the developing world. Our latest data show
that 85% of premature deaths from NCDs occur in developing
countries.
Fundamental Change Needed
The challenges presented by these diseases are
enormous. They demand some fundamental changes in the way social
progress is measured, the way governments work, the way
responsibilities are assigned, and the way the boundaries of
different government sectors are defined.
The fact that NCDs have overtaken infectious diseases
as the world’s leading cause of morbidity and mortality has profound
consequences. This is a seismic shift that calls for sweeping
changes in the very mindset of public health…
Public health must shift its focus from cure to
prevention, from short-term to long-term management, from delivering
babies, vaccines, and antibiotics to changing human behaviours, from
acting alone to acting in concert with multiple sectors and
partners.
Progress As Cause of Illness
… Socioeconomic progress is actually creating the
conditions that favour the rise of NCDs. Economic growth,
modernization, and urbanization have opened wide the entry point for
the globalization of unhealthy lifestyles. Risk factors for NCDs are
becoming part of the very fabric of modern society.
Health Sector Can’t Do It Alone
The health sector bears the brunt of these diseases
but has very little control over their causes. The health and
medical professions can plead for stronger tobacco and alcohol
legislation, more exercise, and healthier diets. We can treat the
diseases, but we cannot re-engineer social environments to promote
healthy lifestyles.
This is another shift that needs to take place.
Governments cannot assume that NCDs are a health problem and that
the health sector can manage on its own. We cannot.
For prevention, the cornerstone of our response,
governments need to take on a primary role and responsibility.
Social environments need to change, population-wide, nation-wide.
This will not happen without political commitment at the highest
level of government.
Only high-level political commitment can orchestrate
the kind of broad-based collaboration needed to make substantial
progress, especially on prevention. Heads of state and government
are best placed to introduce coherent public policies, coordinate
actions, and push for legislative support. Unprecedented
challenges need unprecedented commitments.
WHO Update
According
to WHO, more than 190 of the participating governments have agreed
to a global action plan to reduce premature deaths from chronic
diseases by 25% by 2025. The action plan includes a menu of options
for countries and partners to implement. (see next article in this
issue.)
Encouraging Sign
An encouraging sign
of the commitment to tackle chronic diseases is the accountability
mechanism for all countries described in the Lancet’s July 7 issue.
Called NCD Countdown 2025, the mechanism is modeled on a process
used successfully to monitor and improve actions related to
achieving the maternal, newborn, and child survival goals for 2015.
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