Your weekly summary of NCD activities, curated by the WHO NCD Department
PRE-WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY EVENT ON STRATEGIC PATHWAYS AND INVESTMENTS TO ACCELERATE ACTION ON NCDs
The global response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been inadequate, revealing failings in international solidarity and exacerbating inequalities. People living with NCDs have found themselves at the epicentre of this crisis in low- and high-income countries alike, as many NCDs have been a risk factor for more severe COVID outcomes.
The imperative for action on NCDs is clear: unless governments act and invest in NCDs, countries will not be prepared for the next pandemic or health threat.
On 12 May, WHO is participating in a High-Level virtual event exploring Strategic pathways and investments to get NCDs and the sustainable development agenda back on track for 2030.
The session, co-hosted by NCD Alliance, WHO and The Lancet and moderated by Richard Horton (Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet), brings together key decision-makers and opinion leaders ahead of the 75th World Health Assembly, to:
- Take stock of the global response and progress on NCDs, including recent outcomes from the International Strategic Dialogue on NCDs and SDGs held on 12th April 2022 in Ghana and our forthcoming 2022 NCD Progress Monitor;
- Promote the pathways and investments needed from governments to get back on track for SDG 3.4, including those from a new NCD Countdown 2030 paper; and,
- Explore the policy implications of the syndemic of NCDs and COVID-19 for health security and pandemic preparedness and response, including current negotiations at WHO on a pandemic treaty.
Join WHO staff at the NCD Alliance, WHO and The Lancet event on 12 April, for a discussion on accelerating the implementation of critical NCD needs, particularly for SDG targets 3.4 and 3.8.
ALMOST 15 MILLION EXCESS DEATHS FROM COVID-19 IN 2020 AND 2021
New estimates from WHO show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic, described as “excess mortality”, between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million.
Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred, and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic, based on data from earlier years.
Excess mortality includes deaths associated with COVID-19 directly (due to the disease) or indirectly (due to the pandemic’s impact on health systems and society). Deaths linked indirectly to COVID-19 are attributable to other health conditions for which people were unable to access prevention and treatment because health systems were overburdened by the pandemic.
Adults and children living with NCDs are more at risk of severe consequences from COVID-19. Services for NCDs and mental health conditions have been among the most-commonly disrupted of any health service throughout the pandemic.
How can you make sense of our latest data on excess deaths from COVID-19? Check out WHO's COVID-19 dashboard at the link above.
COMMERCIAL DETERMINANTS OF CANCER CONTROL
Cancer is a major health, social and public policy challenge and successfully tackling it requires an understanding of all its determinants. Although commercial determinants are a relatively new field of study, there are emerging themes which are very important for cancer policy and the cancer control continuum.
Commercial determinants are those private-sector activities that affect the health of populations, but this is often neglected due to commercial interests often trumping nobler health goals.
So, what are the commercial determinants of cancer control policy? What are the challenges and opportunities for governing them along the cancer control continuum?
Last week, staff from WHO HQ, WHO/Europe and the WHO Representative Office in China came together with academic experts and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies to explore these questions. We are glad to share a recording of the session.
PREPARING FOR WORLD HYPERTENSION DAY IN THE AMERICAS
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in collaboration with The Lancet Regional Health-Americas, will host a webinar on 13 May to mark World Hypertension Day.
This webinar will highlight the low awareness rate worldwide, promote accurate blood pressure measurement methods, and underscore the importance of improving hypertension control to live longer and healthier.
The webinar will feature the lead authors of two HEARTS Initiative papers published on the May issue of the The Lancet Regional Health-Americas, as well as other experts.
The webinar will be run in Spanish, English and Portuguese, with simultaneous interpretation in all languages.
Last year, we explored comprehensive actions taken in Chile to strengthen action on hypertension, including the widespread adoption of the WHO HEARTS technical package. Across the country, more people - around 30,000 per year - die from cardiovascular disease than from any other cause.
LEARNING FROM OUR WORLD HEARING FORUM MEMBERS
The World Hearing Forum is a global network of stakeholders promoting ear and hearing care worldwide, filling a critical gap by bringing a collective vision to advocacy and collaboration in this field.
This week, WHO hosted a members' update meeting with the World Hearing Forum, to provide an update on the WHF activities and pave ways to improve the forum’s engagement. Members shared suggestions on the action by the forum and by the members to increase forum engagement.
Specifically, the meeting focused on:
- sharing the updates on the activities of the working groups(s);
- sharing member's contributions to the Forum;
- discussing potential action to scale up the visibility and working of the Forum.
The second edition of the World Hearing Forum newsletter, News from the forum, is also now available below.
If you would like to join the World Hearing Forum, applications for membership are open until 30 June 2022.
EXPOSING TOBACCO INDUSTRY 'GREENWASHING'
From start to finish, the tobacco life cycle is an overwhelmingly polluting and damaging process. From air pollution caused by smoking springs, to around 3.5 million hectares of land destroyed to grow tobacco, deforestation, the depletion of water, fuel and metal resources, resource-intensive modes of transport.
All of this overlooks the 4.5 trillion cigarette butts not disposed of properly every year across the globe, generating 1.69 billion pounds of toxic waste and releasing thousands of chemicals into the air, water and soil.
On 31 May, WHO will be marking World No Tobacco Day. In advance of the day, WHO and STOP are focusing on how the tobacco industry use 'greenwashing' to further their aims. Greenwashing refers to the practice to market harmful goods or imagery as environmentally friendly, in an effort to increase product sales and divert public attention from their own environmentally damaging practices.
The objectives of our webinar on 12 May, Talking Trash: Behind the tobacco industry’s “green” public relations, are to:
- Raise awareness of the tobacco industry’s destructive practices across the entire product life cycle, including deforestation, water depletion, use of pesticides and tobacco product waste;
- Provide clarity on different policy options to counter greenwashing (e.g. Extended Producer Responsibility policies, raise taxes, ban on CSR activities, etc.)
Tobacco control experts and environmental advocates from around the world will join our roundtable discussion to expose the tobacco industry's greenwashing tactics through a series of country case studies from Brazil, France, Nigeria, Spain and Tanzania.
We hope you can join us!
NEW GLOBAL PREDICTIONS FOR GASTRIC CANCER
Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and collaborators predict that the annual burden of gastric cancer will increase to about 1.8 million new cases, and about 1.3 million deaths by 2040. This represents increases of about 63% and 66%, respectively, compared with 2020.
These estimates are included in a new article on global patterns of gastric cancer occurrence in 2020 and the projected burden of disease in 2040, which has been published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.
The burden of gastric cancer is highest in eastern Asia, and it is the most common cancer type in China, as well as in Bhutan, Cabo Verde, and Tajikistan.
An estimated 1.1 million new cases of gastric cancer and 770 000 deaths caused by gastric cancer occurred in 2020, with incidence rates being on average twice as high in males as in females. Men residing in Eastern Asian countries such as Japan, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea had the highest incidence rates in the world, while incidence rates were lowest in Africa.
PREPARING FOR THE WORLD HEART SUMMIT
Now in its seventh edition, the World Heart Summit will take place on 21-22 May, under the theme of Cardiovascular Health for Everyone.
Delegates to this exclusive, invitation-only event will engage with policymakers, diplomats, researchers, private sector partners and health advocates, forging ties with leaders and innovators in the global cardiovascular community with the goal of strengthening the global response to cardiovascular disease to help people live longer, healthier lives.
Through thought-provoking topics and a dynamic format, including interview-style panels, keynotes, conversations and focused workshops, the programme will:
- Chart the transformational changes and trends in the global cardiovascular environment ;
- Put a spotlight on heart health for development ;
- Take stock of new treatments, technologies, and approaches for cardiology ;
- Ask how we can communicate heart health in a time of crisis ; and
- Challenge policymakers to turn cardiovascular health into a priority
Both Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director for Noncommunicable Diseases at WHO HQ and Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, Deputy Director-General at WHO, will be speaking at the Summit.
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
- Check out the @NCDAlliance calendar of NCD-related events alongside this month's WHA75 (May 2022)
- A virtual fireside @NCDChild chat with an incredible group of young people, talking about what it's like living with NCDs, and innovative ways of engaging young people in promoting #MentalHealth (May 2022)
- Exploring the links between health and education for safer learning in and through schools: a together to #endviolence affiliate event (May 2022)
