UN Development Programme and non-communicable diseases

Abstract

In her Comment (Feb 16, p 510), Helen Clark from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has overlooked the problematic association between development agencies and the tobacco industry, which continually undermines global efforts to combat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The tobacco industry promotes sale and consumption of addictive and disease-causing substances that fuel NCDs. Its stated and vested interests are directly opposed to public health priorities. Because of a lack of adherence to exclusion criteria and standards for partnerships, such companies largely responsible for causing the NCD epidemic have ironically become development partners of UN agencies. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), an initiative of the UNDP (and the World Bank), led projects in the Philippines, Panama, Uganda, and Tanzania, which received funds from tobacco companies. In Tanzania, GEF supported an aff orestation programme to sustain tobacco farming. Partners, such as Global Business Coalition on Health and UN Global Compact, partner with corporations in the tobacco industry. The openness of the UN systems confers upon the tobacco industry an undeserved legitimacy, facilitates its access to global policy making, and ultimately distorts health priorities. UNDP’s agenda to combat NCDs is thus called into question by its partnership with an industry that contributes overwhelmingly to the crisis.