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Vital Stories

Civil society organizations from across the world pledge to work together to combat NCDs

Last week, many of the leading advocates on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) met for the Global NCD Alliance Forum in Sharjah, UAE.

More than 200 representatives from civil society and 45 budding national NCD organizations across six continents attended the Forum, hosted by Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of the Ruler of Sharjah.

New NCD Alliance Chair and Vital Strategies CEO and President José Luis Castro told those assembled “We are united by a vision of a future where all people affected by or living with NCDs live full and healthy lives, free from stigma and discrimination and preventable disability and death.”

The forum culminated in the signing of the “Sharjah Declaration on NCDs: Civil Society United Towards 2030.”

The document calls on civil society groups to work together to accelerate advocacy for change and monitor progress to reduce the global burden of NCDs.

The declaration states: “No one sector alone will reverse the NCD epidemic, but working together we have the tremendous opportunity to chart a new course toward health and sustainable human development for a more equitable and healthier future for all.”

The forum came just two months after adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which for the first time included NCDs as a global development priority.

At the Forum’s closing ceremony, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al-Qasimi, announced the next Global NCD Alliance Forum to be held in 2017 in Sharjah, a year ahead of the next UN High-Level Review on NCDs in 2018.

One early win from the conference – The UAE government announced plans for a 100 per cent tax on tobacco products in the country within the next couple months. Tobacco use is the leading preventable risk factor for the four most common NCDs including cancers, chronic lung and heart disease.

NCD Alliance Chair José Luis Castro and Vice Chair Johanna Ralston