NCD prevention and control calls for a comprehensive response that requires coordinated actions across all sectors of society. The "Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of NCDs (2000)" laid out the vision for action based on three pillars:
Prevention
Prevent and reduce risk factorsSurveillance
Monitor NCDs and risk factors, and the health system responseHealth care
Offer treatment for people with NCDs and risk factorsCountries made firm commitments to tackle NCDs in the United Nations Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs (2011), which were endorsed by countries in the Region through a Regional Framework for Action (2012). The Framework includes a set of strategic interventions that countries committed to implementing, to prevent and control NCDs. Central to these commitments is the implementation of very cost-effective interventions called NCD ‘best buys’.
Read more
Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013–2020
Regional framework for action | French | Arabic (updated October 2015)
UN Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases
Voluntary global targets: global monitoring framework for NCDs
‘Best buys’ for NCDs
NCD ‘best buys’ are interventions with compelling evidence for cost-effectiveness, that are also cheap, and feasible to implement in all health systems, and various resource levels, including in low resource settings, and culturally appropriate in all countries. An NCD ‘best buy’ intervention is meant to generate an extra year of healthy life for a cost that falls below the average annual income or gross domestic product per person. NCD ‘best buy’ interventions are usually grouped into two categories:
Population-based interventions–which focus on preventing and reducing exposure to risk factors by creating healthy environments, thus facilitating healthier individual choices and behaviours. These interventions cover:
tobacco (e.g. tax increases, smoke-free indoor workplaces and public places, health information and warnings, and bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship)
unhealthy diet and physical inactivity (e.g. reduced salt intake in food, replacement of trans fat with polyunsaturated fat, and public awareness through mass media on diet and physical activity)
harmful use of alcohol (e.g. tax increases, restricted access to retailed alcohol, bans on alcohol advertising).
Individual-based interventions–which focus on the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and strokes), as well as early detection and treatment of cancer, and target people at risk of NCDs or those who have already developed NCDs. These interventions are typically but not exclusively delivered in primary health care settings. Their successful implementation thus depends on the robustness of the health system as they require the presence of a health workforce and the availability and affordability of essential medicines and technologies for NCDs. Interventions include:
drug therapy and counselling for persons with or at high risk of heart attacks and stroke
treatment of heart attacks with aspirin
hepatitis B immunization to prevent liver cancer and screening and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions to prevent cervical cancer.
Read more about scaling up action against NCDs: How much will it cost? WHO report 2011
Global milestones in the prevention and control of NCDs
