From left to right: H.E. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister, Mauritius; Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, World Health Organization; H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; Mr Michael R. Bloomberg, Global Ambassador for NCDs and Injuries, World Health Organization; The Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister, Barbados; H.E. Siaosi Sovaleni, Prime Minister, Tonga; Dr Jörg Kukies, State Secretary to the Chancellor, Germany on behalf of the G7. Absent from photo: H.E. Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister, Samoa.

Dear NCD Newsflash readers and friends,

On Wednesday 21 September, we saw a landmark First Annual Gathering of a Heads of State and Government Group for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, convened by the President of Ghana and the Prime Minister of Norway, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chaired by President of Ghana and hosted by Michael R. Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for NCDs and Injuries. The event was held during the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77). This follows the launch of a Global NCD Compact earlier this year by Ghana and Norway. 

The First Gathering of the Heads of State and Government Group included participation from the Prime Minister of Barbados, Prime Minister of Mauritius, Prime Minister of Samoa, Prime Minister of Tonga and State Secretary, Germany on behalf of the G7, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and WHO Global Ambassador for NCDs and Injuries Mr Michael R. Bloomberg. We witnessed a high-level strategic discussion on the importance of delivering the Global NCD Compact to advance NCD outcomes for all. The Global NCD Compact focuses on five areas of commitment:

• saving, by 2030, the lives of 50 million people from dying prematurely of NCDs by implementing the most cost-effective measures to prevent and control NCDs;
• protecting 1.7 billion people living with NCDs by ensuring that they have access to the medicines and care they need during humanitarian emergencies;
• integrating NCDs within primary health care and universal health coverage;
• comprehensive NCD surveillance and monitoring; and
• meaningfully engaging 1.7 billion people living with NCDs and mental health conditions in policy-making and programming.

To mark the occasion, WHO has released a new report, Invisible Numbers: The true scale of noncommunicable diseases and what to do about them. We also publish a new data portal that for the first time, brings together all WHO data related to NCDs for 194 countries. The report and portal highlight the extent of global NCD burden, risk factors, and the progress each country is making in their efforts to combat these diseases and conditions. You can learn more about each resource below.

Further accelerating action, Dr Tedros renewed the two-year appointment of Michael R. Bloomberg as WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries. This is Bloomberg’s third reappointment as Ambassador, having first been appointed to the role in 2016. Explaining why effective NCD communication is so crucial, Gallup also released a new survey, commissioned by WHO and Bloomberg Philanthropies, that found most respondents in five surveyed countries – Colombia, India, Jordan, the United Republic of Tanzania and the United States of America – rank an NCD or NCD risk factor as the biggest health problem in their country.

Thank you to all of the hard work, including between our Departments in WHO HQ, WHO Office at the United Nations Office, regional and country offices and partners, particularly WHO Ghana, and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for their sustained support and commitment of the event.

We know many of your organizations will be keen to support the Global NCD Compact. We look forward to further operationalizing the Compact through a multistakeholder and multisectoral dialogue next month, and through subsequent annual meetings to follow of the Heads of State and Government Group.

With the coming two years critical to saving millions of lives, and building the road towards the fourth UN High-level meeting on NCDs in 2025, I thank you, again, for your unwavering commitment to improving NCD outcomes for all.

Yours, Bente

INVISIBLE NUMBERS: THE TRUE EXTENT OF NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM

Our new Invisible Numbers report reminds us of a shocking statistic: every two seconds, someone under 70 somewhere in the world dies of an NCD. NCDs like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and lung disease now outnumber infectious disease as the top killers globally - a marked shift over the past two decades.

The data paint a clear picture. The problem is that the world isn’t looking at it. A lack of awareness of the data means that not enough action is being taken. Millions of people
– especially in lower-income settings – cannot access the prevention, treatment and care that could prevent or delay NCDs and their consequences. This huge inequity undermines the human right of everyone, in all countries, to the best available standard of health.

All too often, government commitments are not being met. Every Member State of the United Nations has committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include a target to reduce premature death from NCDs by a third by 2030. This could save millions of lives, but few countries are on track to achieve the target.

Making a clear and accessible case for the benefits of accelerating action on NCDs for all, Invisible Numbers: The true scale of noncommunicable diseases and what to do about them explains data on four major NCDs and a range of NCD risk factors, linkages with the SDGs, economic and health system impacts, comorbidities, health financing opportunities to change the picture, testimonials from people living with NCDs, and a simple message -  what needs to happen. 

LAUNCHING THE NCD DATA PORTAL

For the first time, a new NCD Portal has brought together all WHO data related to NCDs for 194 countries. The portal highlights the extent of global NCD burden, risk factors, and the progress each country is making in their efforts to combat these diseases and conditions.

You can find data on several indicators, including the: probability of premature mortality (before age 70) from NCDs; percentage of total deaths due to NCDs; percentage of premature NCD deaths; and the age-standardized NCD death rate, and view data at country, regional and global level.

How is your country performing? Check out the NCD Data Portal below!

ACHIEVING MULTISTAKEHOLDER AND MULTISECTORAL COLLABORATIONS FOR ADVANCING THE GLOBAL NCD COMPACT

A core focus of the First Gathering of a Heads of State and Government Group for the Prevention and Control of NCDs was strengthening strategic leadership to promote greater policy coherence and coordination, through whole-of-government and health-in-all-policy approaches, and engaging stakeholders for bold actions and responses.

On 7 October, with a view to showcase how non-State actors are, or can be, committed to support the Global Group of Heads of State and Government in their national NCD efforts to achieve SDG target 3.4, WHO and NCD Alliance are co-hosting this dialogue on Achieving multistakeholder and multisectoral collaborations for advancing the Global NCD Compact.

The dialogue has objectives to:

• Raise the priority of the role of diverse stakeholders in the prevention and control of NCDs within the national and international SDG response, including pandemic preparedness and response;
• Deliberate on the Global NCD Compact 2020- 2030 and showcase alignment, coherence and collaborative actions on NCDs, UHC and the SDGs; and
• Discuss how to leverage the multistakeholder collective to inspire and support global and national action on NCDs, UHC and the SDGs.

MULTI-COUNTRY POLLING ON PUBLIC PERSPECTIVES OF NCDs

To better understand the issues that surround the public's perceptions of NCDs and their risk factors, Gallup has collaborated with WHO and Bloomberg Philanthropies on surveys in Colombia, India, Jordan, Tanzania and the United States, asking questions related to attitudes, perceptions and experiences of NCDs. The surveys are nationally representative and allow for cross-country comparability. Specifically, the focus is on people's attitudes and perceptions toward the four major types of NCDs: cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.

The respondent level nationally representative data set for these countries has been made available for independent research. The aim of this study is to enable more effective communication and outreach on NCDs, and to strengthen advocacy for effective policies to protect people from NCDs.

Key findings of the study are that:

• Though most see cancer as "very harmful", many underestimate the harmfulness of other NCDs; and
• The public strongly backs policy measures that can help fight NCDs.

You can use the data and analyses from this study to:

• Improve awareness and understanding of NCDs and their risk factors by developing more effective communication;
• Bridge the knowledge gap between the NCD technical scientific community and the general public;
• Strengthen public knowledge of NCDs and their risk factors to support advocacy efforts and encourage policymakers to prioritize interventions that address NCDs and their causes.

At the High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Heads of State and government agreed to “progressively cover all people by 2030 with quality essential health services and quality, safe, effective, affordable and essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and health technologies for the prevention, screening, early diagnosis and treatment of NCDs”.

2023, world’s leaders will meet again at the next UN High-Level Meeting on UHC to review progress made to date and make new commitments. On the eve of the First Gathering, Dr Bente Mikkelsen joined WHO staff, Ministries of Health, civil society and person with lived experiences of NCDs, for an NCD Alliance and Viatris UNGA77 side-event on the integration of NCDs within UHC benefit packages, showcasing country impacts and identifying ways to prioritize NCDs within the next UN High-Level Meeting on UHC in 2023. Here are an excerpt of Dr Mikkelsen's closing remarks!

HOUSEKEEPING

As part of efforts to improve WHO communications, we always want your feedback of what you like, and what you would like to see more of! Send me your feedback below.

THE TWEETS WE RETWEET

• Follow our coverage of the World Health Assembly using the hashtag #UNGA77 (September 2022)