Non communicable diseases (NCDs), mainly cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are responsible for roughly two out of every three deaths today. Other NCDs, including mental illness, accidents, renal disease and dental disease, kill or maim millions more. The World Health Organization (WHO) is now putting the final touches on a draft Action Plan…

Public Health Institute, together with Caring and Living as Neighbors and Global Health Council, will convene a conference on "NCDs in Children and Adolescents" during March 19-20.  The conference has been sponsored by the Medtronic Foundation, …

As part of the outcome of the UN High Level Meeting on NCDs, the political declaration adopted acknowledged the special challenges faced by children and youth in preventing and treating non communicable diseases, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic lung disease (including asthma). It is…

The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine's lead article this issue is about non communicable diseases (NCDs). Authors Lisa Rosenbaum and Daniela Lamas review the existing evidence, and agree with WHO…

Nearly half the world’s population – more than 3 billion people – is under the age of 25. This enormous cohort of young people represents tremendous hope and potential, as the vanguard of future societies from Boston to Bujumbura. At the…

Public Health Institute (PHI) on September 19, 2011, held a satellite event at the UN High Level Meeting on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).  The panel discussion "Climate Change and NCDs: Creating a Climate for Health," was moderated by PHI Center for Climate and Global Health Director Dr. Cristina Tirado, and held at the UN Church Center in New York.…

Public Health Institute is participating in the UN High Level Session on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York. PHI's President and CEO Mary Pittman, DrPH, Center for Climate Change and Global Health Director Cristina Tirado, PhD, and Special Advisor for Global Health Policy and Development Jeff Meer are registered observers at the conference. In…

September 15, 2011

Dear Colleague,



Next week, the United Nations will hold its first High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York. I am proud to represent the Public Health Institute at this…

The State Department has announced the following official US Delegation to the UN High Level Meeting on NCDs (September 19-20).

United States Delegation to the UNGA HLM on Non-Communicable Diseases

New York, New York

September 19-20, 2011

Chief Delegate

The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Health and Human…

In recent times Dr. Seuss books had a bit of a "comeback" in our lives. Our son performed in a junior version of Seussical, a musical based on Dr. Seuss material, largely inspired by the story behind Horton Hears a Who!



As it happens, the story's climax has a bunch of minuscule…

As has been widely reported, including here and here, negotiations at the United Nations have stalled over an "outcomes document" that is to be approved by a High Level Meeting on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York on September 20.  Negotiations that were to have been concluded by now…

Among the many issues to confront the global health community in tackling the rising tide of non communicable disease (NCDs) is how best to measure the extent of the epidemic. This has become an urgent issue in the short period remaining before the UN High Level Meeting on NCDs, scheduled to take place at the UN General Assembly on September 19-20, 2011.  Many advocates argue that without a concrete…

Approximately 350 representatives of civil society participated in a one-day session in New York on June 13, to provide verbal input into the UN High Level Meeting on non communicable diseases (NCDs). Convened by the President of the General Assembly and staffed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the session was supposed to be an opportunity for United Nations agencies and member states to hear…

One missing piece in the policy debates around non communicable diseases (NCDs) is an accurate account of their economic impact.  In order for policy makers to begin to grapple with the epidemic sweeping the globe, they need to have a fairly good idea what illnesses like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease and cancer are having on economies from Bujumbura to Beijing. 

Thanks to some research sponsored by the World…

It is hard to find a life that has not been touched in some way by a non communicable disease (NCD).  Whether it's a mother who has breast cancer, a father with diabetes, or a cousin with asthma, virtually all of us have personal knowledge of what it is like to live with -- and sometimes die with -- a chronic illness.  That basic fact makes the upcoming UN High Level Meeting on NCDs this September of…

Hundreds or perhaps thousands of individuals last week began receiving notices from the UN, letting them know that their registration had been approved to attend the June 16 Civil Society Listening Session on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York.  This is welcome news for those advocates and practitioners who had been patiently waiting since the registration process for the meeting closed in April. The Civil Society Listening Session is meant to be a precursor to the upcoming…

Millennium Development Goal 5 aims to improve maternal health through two targets: (1) Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio, and (2) Achieve, by 2015 universal access to reproductive health. While maternal deaths worldwide have dropped 34% since 1990, maternal mortality remains remarkably high (more than 358,000 women die annually from complications during pregnancy or childbirth) and large disparities remain in providing women with family planning…

Today the Presidents of the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association published an unprecedented joint statement concerning support for the UN High Level Meeting on Non Communicable…

Charlotte Block of Project Hope organized a session on May 12 at the CORE Group in Baltimore on "Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) -- The Unheralded Global Epidemic."  In addition to Ms. Block, who spoke on the global reach of diabetes, the session also featured presentations by Dr. Vivien Tsu of PATH on cancers…

As delegations gather this week in Moscow to assess the state of the world's non communicable disease (NCD) epidemic and governments' efforts to cope, advocates will also be pressing to make sure that non governmental organizations, corporations and academics all have a role in clarifying the problems and identifying solutions.

All indications are that the United Nations, and in particular, the World Health Organization, is doing its utmost to accommodate the hundreds of organizations…