MUNICH – Despite a global commitment to cut deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by a third by 2030, virtually all countries are off-track  – and the NCD Alliance is appealing to allied organizations to help pressure governments to take action.

“NCDs cause three out of four deaths globally, and 80% of premature mortality from NCDs – deaths before the age of 70 – take place in low- and middle-income countries,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Dr Prebo Barango told an NCD Alliance satellite event shortly before the opening of the international AIDS conference in Munich.

“We also know that HIV mortality is worse in low and middle-income countries and that so there is a colliding epidemic of HIV and NCD,” added Barango.

Aside from the global goal to cut NCD deaths, which is one of the Social Development Goals (SDGs), global leaders made another commitment, NCD Alliance CEO Katie Dain said the meeting.

HIV High-Level Meeting

They committed at the 2021 United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS to ensure that “90% of people living with, and affected by, HIV have access to people-centred and context-specific, integrated services for HIV and other diseases, including NCDs and mental health by 2025,” said Dain.

“This, in many ways, is one of the real frontiers of the global HIV response, recognising that people living with HIV are living longer thanks to advancements in antiretroviral antiretroviral therapy,” she added.

But slow progress to achieve this 90% goal has prompted the NCD Alliance to issue a call for action to world leaders – and they have appealed to HIV organisations to sign the open letter.

The letter calls on all governments to “fulfil their commitments to tackle the NCD burden” by the time they attend the UN High-level Meeting on NCDs in September next year. They are calling for three key actions:  mobilising more investment, accelerating the implementation of policies to reduce NCDs and monitoring the progress made.

“NCDs such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory conditions, neurological conditions, and mental ill health, are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide,” the letter notes.

“We urge governments to fulfil their responsibility to protect current and future generations from the risk factors that cause NCDs and provide healthcare for those who need it.”

Image Credits: Marcus Rose/ IAS.