Katie Dain, Chief Executive Officer of the NCD Alliance, believes it is essential to involve civil society and communities in the battle against noncommunicable diseases and looks at how vibrant civil society movements can deliver advocacy, awareness-raising, access and accountability.
“NCD civil society works to elevate the voices of communities and people living with NCDs, mobilising resources, advocating for political action and health policy reform, and holding governments and other stakeholders to account.”
Since 2011, numerous commitments have been made by world leaders to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) at both global and national levels, as an integral component of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and as a key element of achieving universal health coverage (UHC).
Many Commonwealth countries have acted as the engine behind the global political response to NCDs, particularly those in the Caribbean community (CARICOM), which anchored NCDs on the agenda of the UN via the instrumental Port of Spain Declaration of 2007.
However, global progress has been disappointingly slow and extremely unequal, leaving vulnerable populations behind in many countries. At the current rate, The Lancet NCD Countdown 2030 estimates that SDG target 3.4 – to reduce by one third, premature mortality from NCDs and promote mental health and wellbeing – will only be reached for women in 35 countries and for men in 30 countries by 2030. This is not good enough. We urgently need to see governments stepping up, for the sake of the millions of people dying every year from NCDs…
Katie Dain
Chief Executive Officer, NCD Alliance
