CHAMPIONING THE NCD AGENDA: SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED AND LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR THE INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC DIALOGUE ON NCDs AND THE SDGs!

Insufficient global action on NCDs, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, are creating the very real possibility that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets 3.4 and 3.8 will not be met. Just a handful of countries are on track to achieve SDG target 3.4, to reduce by one-third the premature mortality of NCDs through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being by 2030. 

On Tuesday, the Government of Ghana, Government of Norway and the World Health Organization are hosting the International Strategic Dialogue on NCDs and the SDGs. This will take the next decisive step towards comprehensive action on NCDs and achieving SDG 3.4.

Translated in all six UN languages, join us to hear from our co-hosts, Heads of State and Governments around the world, First Ladies, collaborating partners and people living with NCDs! Our confirmed speakers (with more to confirm) include:

• His Excellency Mr Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana (co-host);
• His Excellency Mr Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway (co-host)
• Dr Tedros Adhanom Gheybreyesus, WHO Director-General (co-host);
• Her Excellency Ms Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados;
• His Excellency General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand;
• His Excellency Taur Matan Ruak, Prime Minister of Timor-Leste;
• His Excellency Dr Ahmed Mohammed Obaid Al Saidi, Minister of Health of Oman;
• Her Excellency Ms Rossana Briceno, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Belize and Chair of Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network;
• Michael R. Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries.

The International Strategic Dialogue will:

• raise the priority of the prevention and control of NCDs in national SDG responses in low- and middle-income countries;
• unite actors and partners to exchange knowledge on how we achieve SDG targets 3.4 (NCDs) and 3.8 (UHC); and
• raise the political visibility of Heads and State playing a global leadership role in the prevention and control of NCDs.

The co-hosts will also launch special efforts to accelerate global efforts for NCDs - watch this space!

BILLIONS OF PEOPLE STILL BREATHING UNHEALTHY AIR

This year’s update of the WHO air quality database finds that almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits, and threatens their health.

A record number of over 6000 cities in 117 countries are now monitoring air quality, but the people living in them are still breathing unhealthy levels of fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, with people in low and middle-income countries suffering the highest exposures.

Last year, WHO revised its Air Quality Guidelines, making them more stringent in an effort to help countries better evaluate the healthiness of their own air. For the first time, the update introduces ground measurements of annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a common urban pollutant and precursor of particulate matter and ozone. It also includes measurements of particulate matter with diameters equal or smaller than 10 μm (PM10) or 2.5 μm (PM2.5). Both groups of pollutants originate mainly from human activities related to fossil fuel combustion.

While six times as many cities and settlements are taking ground measurements of particulate matter (such as PM2.5 and PM10), data collection are still not homogeneous around the globe. More ground measurements are generally found in high- and middle-income countries, in China, Europe, India and North America. The pattern is similar for NO2 monitors.

INTEGRATING NCDs AND PLANETARY HEALTH THIS WORLD HEALTH DAY

World Health Day is celebrated annually and each year draws attention to a specific health topic of concern to people all over the world.

In the midst of a pandemic, a polluted planet and the increasing growth of NCDs, we  focused yesterday on global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being. 

We estimate that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes. This includes the climate crisis which is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The climate crisis is also a health crisis.

Through the Our planet, our health campaign, WHO will urge governments and the public to share stories of steps they are taking to protect the planet and their health and prioritize well-being societies. You can download the campaign toolkit below. 

Let's reimagine a world where clean air, water and food are available to all. Watch our Q&A with Dr Ruediger Krech and Dr María Neira to discuss our World Health Day theme, 'Our Planet, Our Health'.

BRIEFING MEMBER STATES ON OUR LATEST ORAL HEALTH WORK

“Oral health has been overlooked for too long in the global health agenda. Fourteen years after the last consideration of oral health by EB60, today’s resolution provides a welcome opportunity to address the public health challenges posed by the burden of oral diseases to reposition oral health as part of the global health agenda in the context of universal health coverage.”

- Dr Tedros, discussing resolution WHA74/5 on Oral Health

As part of our actions to support WHO Member States to adopt the most effective policies to prevent and control NCDs, WHO holds regular information sessions with Member States to update on our latest activities of work. Last week, we held an information session for Member States titled ‘The WHA74.5 Resolution on oral health: the way forward’. The session explored the global context and WHO workplan for oral diseases, including: 

• Developing oral health country profiles;
• The strategic objectives needed to develop and implement the draft global strategy on oral health;
• Integrating cost-effective oral health cost-effective interventions into the WHO NCD ‘best-buys’, global action plans, and the universal health coverage (UHC) compendium; and
• A moderated discussion of the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Register here! Join our three co-hosts, several more Heads of State and Government from all six WHO regions, and a collective of First Ladies, for the first-ever International Strategic Dialogue on NCDs and the SDGs!

"Hold yourself, it will make you physically strong". You can watch 'Heal', a film shortlisted for the WHO Health for All Film Festival Special Prize for Rehabilitation, here.

LAUNCHING OUR THIRD NCD LAB CYCLE: TACKLING OBESITY THROUGH INNOVATION AND GLOBAL ACTION

Are you an innovator in the field of NCD prevention and control? Are you leading a novel initiative, developing an ingenious tool, or are you part of a creative team committed to tackling obesity? The third cycle of the WHO NCD Lab would like to hear and learn from you!

For our third cycle of the NCD Labs, we are inviting submissions of innovative tools and initiatives dedicated to tackling the global rise of obesity. As part of WHO’s Acceleration Plan to tackle and reverse obesity in high burden countries and catalyse global action, this NCD Lab cycle welcomes novel approaches that address the multiple determinants of obesity and have the potential to positively impact people’s decisions around food intake and physical activity. 

Submissions are required to apply to one of the NCD Lab core thematic areas, focusing on Women and Girls, NCDs and the Next Generation, and Meaningful Involvement of People living with NCDs and Mental Health Conditions.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Solange found out just after delivery that her son João Paulo had unilateral clubfoot. The 5% is a film shortlisted for the rehabilitation special prize.

18TH MEETING OF THE UN INTER-AGENCY TASK FORCE ON NCDs AGREES 2022-2025 STRATEGY

Last week, 26 UN agencies participated in the latest UN NCD Inter-Agency Task Force meeting, held 29-31 March 2022, co-hosted by IAEA and WHO.

The meeting agreed the Task Force’s 2022-2025 strategy, with a review ahead of the 2025 high-level meeting on NCDs. Task Force members also pledged to:

• continue mobilizing resources for the NCD and mental health multi-partner trust fund;
• ever greater collective action to deliver humanitarian support in the area of NCDs and mental health to those in need;
• support countries tackle tobacco use and the harmful use of alcohol were also agreed;
• embed human rights more fully into the work of the Task Force was highlighted and a new group to take responsibility for this was established.

A number of agencies committed themselves to stronger action in support of the Global Strategy for cervical cancer elimination at the country level. And finally, a call for proposals for the 2022 Task Force awards was also agreed and will be published shortly.

The summary of the meeting with actions agreed as well as the new strategy will be made available on the Task Force webpages in due course. 

CONSULTING PEOPLE LIVING WITH NCDs AND MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AFRICAN REGION ON MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT

Over recent weeks, we have shared information about regional consultations for People Living with NCDs and Mental Health Conditions to develop a framework for meaningful engagement. This Framework will guide WHO and Member States in the meaningful engagement of both groups to co-design policies, programmes, and principles.

We are delighted to seek people living with NCDs and Mental Health Conditions (including individuals with psychosocial disabilities) across the African Region, to join us for our next regional consultations on 12 and 13 April 2022. The objectives of the consultation are to:

• Understand and learn from WHO regional office activities that integrate and practice meaningful engagement;
• Identify regional and country-level insights, experiences, approaches and nuances in implementing meaningful engagement;
• Identify existing barriers and implementation gaps in meaningfully engagement, including but not limited to resource capabilities in existing health and social care systems and capacity-building needs;
• Discuss possible strategies to address implementation gaps in regional or national capacities;
• Discuss opportunities for co-development and implementation of framework and further contextualization of framework and derivative products.

If you would like to participate, please register your interest at the link below!

GLOBAL BURDEN AND PROJECTIONS FOR CUTANEOUS MELANOMA

Skin cancers are the most common groups of cancers diagnosed worldwide, with more than 1.5 million new cases estimated in 2020.

A new study by scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partners predicts that the number of new cases of cutaneous melanoma per year will increase by more than 50% from 2020 to 2040. 

The study, published in the journal JAMA Dermatology, provides global patterns of cutaneous melanoma in 2020 as well as projections of the numbers of new cases and deaths for 2040. On the basis of global population changes, the scientists estimated that more than 500 000 new cases of melanoma per year and almost 100 000 deaths from melanoma should be expected worldwide by 2040.

HOUSEKEEPING

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THE TWEETS WE RETWEET

• Follow the discussion of the International Strategic Dialogue on NCDs and the SDGs at #ISD2022 (April 2022)
• A @McCabe_Centre blog thinking about how law and policy can tackle air pollution and make for a healthier planet, healthier communities (April 2022)