An Evolving Approach to the Global Health Agenda: Countries Will Lead the Way on NCD Prevention and Control

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) put its stamp of approval on noncommunicable diseases (NCD) as a global health priority at the High-Level Meeting on NCD in September 2011 and then handed the baton to member states to take the next steps in addressing this growing health problem. For a decade, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) has advanced the cause of NCD and, for much of that time, was alone with the megaphone. The early attention to NCD from the WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland ultimately led to the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity, and Health [1], the 2008–2013 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases [2], and other influential documents such as the WHO Expert Report on Chronic Disease [3]. WHO has devoted a greater proportion of the funding within its discretion to NCD than member countries and other donors devote from extrabudgetary resources provided to WHO, and it succeeded in advocating for and then carrying off, in record time, a UN high-level meeting. WHO has not been alone in these efforts. There was energetic and inspiring leadership from the Caribbean countries in both initiating national chronic disease control programs and leading the global advocacy, from the NCD Alliance in organizing and broadening the advocacy movement, and from many other individuals, organizations, companies, and countries who saw the pressing need for attention to NCD. While global and regional activities continue to pick up steam, the center of gravity is now shifting to member states, who