WHO’s NCD Commission Lights a Fire Under Heads of State

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Global Health Now, reports that to date, no country has met the 19 requirements of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Sustainable Development Goal 3.4: to reduce by one-third, premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by 2030, as pledged in 2011 and 2014. The report, “Time to Deliver” released by the WHO’s Independent High-Level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases, addresses the concerns of fragile health systems in countries, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Currently, nearly 41 million people die annually from non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, lung, and heart disease. The commission members of the WHO recommend 6 solutions to the issue, the most critical one recommending the heads of state and government—not health ministers—should take charge of the NCD agenda because it crosses so many different government sectors. Read more…