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…

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…

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…

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…

One of the many stories to emerge from the conference on non communicable diseases (NCDs) in the poorest of the poor held at Harvard Medical School over March 2-3, 2011 is the idea that there is no sharp dividing line between NCDs and infectious ones.  "This is a false dichotomy that must be rejected," said Jean Claude Mbanya, president of the International Diabetes Federation and professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Yaounde, Cameroon.…

On February 2, 2011, Dr. Harvey Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the subject of non communicable diseases (NCDs) and global health.  In his talk, Dr. Fineberg noted that today, approximately 80 percent of the mortality associated with non NCDs (cardiovascular disease, lung disease, cancers, and diabetes) occur in less developed nations.  Dr. Fineberg noted that NCDs are incredibly expensive.  He cited the…