New advice on curbing deadly NCDs

World leaders and health experts recently handed eight recommendations to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), that could save millions of lives and promote mental health.

The Report laid out a set of 8 recommendations for WHO:

• Encourage Heads of State and Government to fulfil their commitment to providing strategic leadership by involving all relevant government departments, businesses, civil society groups as well as health professionals and people at risk from or suffering from NCDs and mental health conditions.

• Support countries in efforts to empower individuals to make healthy choices, including by ensuring that the environment is conducive to living a healthy life and that people receive the information they need to make healthy choices.

• Encourage countries to invest in the prevention and control of NCDs and mental health conditions as a key opportunity to enhance human capital and accelerate economic growth.

• Advise countries to include services to prevent and treat NCDs and mental health as essential components of Universal Health Coverage.

• Ensure that no one falls into poverty because they have to pay for health care out of their own pockets through the provision of adequate social protection for everyone.

• Increase engagement with businesses and provide technical support to the Member States so they can mount effective national responses to NCDs and mental health conditions.

• Encourage governments to promote meaningful engagement with civil society.

• Advocate for the establishment of a multi-donor trust fund to support countries in activities to reduce NCDs and promote mental health.

Every year, 41 million people die from NCDs. Despite the many proven solutions, progress has been slow and uneven globally.