The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, together with the NCD Alliance, held the first ever meeting with civil society organizations from 1 to 2 September to discuss and agree on a way forward for strengthening the civil society movement to prevent and control the escalating epidemic of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Region. This meeting showcased the need for stakeholders’ engagement, partnership-building and creating new alliances to bring synergies to the efforts by the public, private and civil society to support and scale up current work on NCDs in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
A critical partner present in this meeting was H.R.H Dina Mired, a strong advocate for the prevention and control of NCDs, particularly cancer control. Princess Dina highlighted the importance of collaboration, and the impact it has had in cancer control in Jordan, and how collaboration can lead to the same success in NCDs.
NCDs are the top killers in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, claiming over 2.2 million lives in 2012, over 57% of all deaths. Cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes are the four chronic or lifestyle-related diseases responsible for the bulk of NCD deaths. Alone, these diseases are responsible for 77% of NCD deaths in the Region. There is a clear need to take urgent action to reverse the NCD epidemic by tackling the four unhealthy behaviours that cause NCDs, namely tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol at the individual and population levels.
H.R.H Dina Mired, WHO and the NCD Alliance agreed to build on the current momentum of the meeting, and work hand-in-hand to improve the health and well-being of individuals and populations at large. Preventing lives lost prematurely to NCDs is high on WHO’s agenda. Counties in this region committed to reducing deaths from NCDs by 25% by 2025 – an achievable target if WHO and partners build on the collaboration started, and engage all sectors of the society to increase political and financial will for the prevention and control of NCDs.
Video message from H.R.H Princess Dina Mired, Director General, King Hussein Cancer Foundation English | Arabic
Related resources
Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013–2020
Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014
UN Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases
Voluntary global targets: global monitoring framework for NCDs