UNITED NATIONS ADOPT POLITICAL DECLARATION ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

Alcohol identified as a major cause of a global ‘slow motion disaster’

The United Nations (UN) has adopted, by consensus, a Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs).

The Declaration was broadly welcomed by the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance despite concerns that it did not go far enough. A particular concern was the potential conflict of interest between commercial interests and public health objectives.

The Declaration was launched at a UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases in New York in September 2011 attended by representatives of government, NGOs and the corporate sector. The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance was represented at the Summit by Derek Rutherford and Professor Sally Caswell.

The Declaration sets out a raft of concrete actions to launch a global attack on NCDs such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, chronic respiratory disease and cancer, which cause the death of more than 36 million people every year. Alcohol is identified in the Declaration as one of the main health determinants of NCDs, alongside tobacco, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.

Plans by 2013

The Political Declaration calls for governments, industry and civil society to set up, by 2013, the plans necessary to curb the risk factors behind the four groups of NCDs – cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. Global leaders committed to increasing their efforts to prevent and treat NCDS and to improve health care and access to vital medicines necessary to treat those diseases.

They also agreed to implement tax measures to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption and to monitor the marketing of fastfoods to children.

Specifically in regard to alcohol, the Declaration affirms that Member States should promote the implementation of the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol. They should recognize the need to develop appropriate domestic action plans, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, for developing specific policies and programmes, including taking into account the full range of options as identified in the global strategy, as well as raising awareness of the problems caused by the harmful use of alcohol, particularly among young people, and calling upon WHO to intensify efforts to assist Member States in this regard.

UN Secretary-General, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, described the meeting as a landmark event and challenged Member States to step up accountability for carrying out the Political Declaration.

“If this document remains just a set of words, we will have failed in our obligation toward future generations. But, if we give this Political Declaration meaning through multiple, concerted and tough actions, we will honour our responsibility to safeguard our shared future,” he said.

The UN Secretary-General underscored the excellent foundation provided by the Political Declaration and urged Member States to act together to implement its provisions and “bring non-communicable diseases into our broader global health and development agenda”.

Noting that more than 1 million of the people dying from non-communicable diseases succumbed in the prime of their lives, with the vast majority of them living in developing countries, the UN Secretary- General was resolute that “Our collaboration is more than a public health necessity.”

“Addressing non-communicable diseases was critical, not just for global health, but would also be good for the economy, the environment and the global public good,” he stated. He called on governments, individuals, civic groups and businesses to play their part. “There is a welldocumented and shameful history of certain players in industry who ignored the science - sometimes even their own research - and put public health at risk to protect their own profits.”

“There are many, many more industry giants which acted responsibly. That is all the more reason we must hold everyone accountable, so that the disgraceful actions of a few do not sully the reputation of the many which are doing such important work to foster our progress,” he added, calling on corporations that profit from selling processed foods to children, including manufacturers, media, marketing and advertising companies, to act with the utmost integrity.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, who also addressed the opening plenary, welcomed the Declaration as an excellent turning point in the fight against NCDs. She referred to the High-Level Meeting “as a wake-up call for Governments at the highest level and a water shed event that replaced ignorance and inertia with awareness and right actions immediately”.

Describing the epidemic of NCDs as a “slow-motion disaster” the WHO Director General stated that health practitioners were doing their best but they could not address this mounting challenge on their own. She was convinced that the response to these diseases must come with equal “top-level power that commanded the right protective policies across all sectors of Government.”

Director-General Chan explained that NCDs were largely preventable through cost-effective measures and urged Heads of State and Government to “stand rock hard” against the “despicable” efforts of the tobacco industry and their highly aggressive tactics. She explained that an increase in tobacco taxes and prices could protect health and bring considerable revenue to Governments. In addition, she stated that salt reduction was among the most cost-effective and feasible public health interventions for those at risk of cardiovascular disease.

The WHO Director-General cautioned that, in the absence of urgent action, the economic costs of NCDs would rise to levels beyond even the reach of the wealthiest countries.

“You have the power to stop or reverse the disaster,” and to ensure that development was moving on a good path.

“We must act now,” she urged.

The Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (document A/66/L.1 can be downloaded at: http://www. un.org/en/ga/ncdmeeting2011/