July 25, 2025 (New York)—Vital Strategies has reviewed the revised version of the proposed 2025 Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and Mental Health and strongly urges governments to reject the weakened commitments in the latest draft. The upcoming UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs is a crucial opportunity to secure bold, evidence-based global actions that save lives, prevent illness and deliver significant economic benefits.
Despite this urgency, recent revisions to the Declaration show alarming signs of industry influence, watering down commitments proven to reduce the devastating human and economic impacts of NCDs such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and chronic lung conditions. These diseases, responsible for more than 40 million deaths every year, are largely preventable. Strong global leadership and unambiguous policy actions are imperative to reverse this trajectory.
Key Areas Where Ambition Must Be Restored:
- Reinstate Explicit Commitment to Health Taxes:
The Declaration must explicitly mandate increases in health taxes—taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages. These taxes should increase prices sufficiently to reduce affordability, prevent initiation and support reduction or cessation of use. As outlined by the Task Force for Fiscal Policy on Health, a 50% price increase on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary beverages could raise $2.1 trillion in five years for low- and middle-income countries, revenue equal to 40% of their total health spending. - Restore WHO “Best Buys” for Alcohol:
The draft Declaration selectively removes the World Health Organization’s (WHO) evidence-based “Best Buy” policy recommendations for alcohol, including raising taxes, restricting marketing and regulating availability. These interventions are consistently identified by WHO as among the most efficient and cost-effective ways to reduce alcohol-related illness and more than 2.6 million deaths each year globally. The conspicuous deletion of these proven policies from the text strongly suggests undue alcohol industry influence aimed at weakening public health protections. We urge governments to immediately reverse these deletions and fully restore WHO’s recommendations in the final text. - Protect Policies from Industry Influence:
The Declaration must explicitly tackle harmful commercial practices and strengthen conflict-of-interest protections to safeguard public health policymaking from industry interference. The Framework Convention of Tobacco Control, the world’s first public health treaty, demonstrates that global commitment in this area is possible and has practical down-stream impact of improving governance around health. - Comprehensive Tobacco Control—Including “Emerging” Products:
The Declaration must explicitly strengthen commitments to proven tobacco control measures, clearly referencing the WHO MPOWER technical package. Specifically, it must include taxation at effective levels, comprehensive monitoring of tobacco use, graphic health warnings, plain packaging, marketing restrictions and robust regulation of emerging products like Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs), which are increasingly targeting youth. ENDs and HTPs are completely unregulated in more than 60 countries; the Declaration must not ignore the evolution of the tobacco market. - Recognize Unhealthy Diets as an Urgent Priority:
According to the WHO, more than 2.8 million deaths a year are attributable to obesity and overweight. The Declaration must explicitly state that rising obesity rates are primarily driven by unhealthy diets, emphasizing clear interventions like front-of-pack labeling and marketing restrictions targeting children. - Remove Vague Language to Strengthen Accountability:
Ambiguous phrases such as “as appropriate” or “national circumstances” must be replaced with explicit commitments guided by WHO evidence, national consumption patterns, disease burdens and public health needs. Strong, decisive language is essential to drive meaningful action and accountability. - Ensure Focus on Quality of Life, Not Just Mortality:
The Declaration should explicitly recognize morbidity and disability prevention as central goals of NCD and mental health action, highlighting the importance of improving quality of life and reducing suffering.
Weakening these commitments will lead to millions of preventable deaths, increased healthcare costs, reduced productivity and ongoing suffering worldwide. Governments must prioritize public health over private profits.
Vital Strategies calls on Member States to urgently reverse these weakened commitments, protect public health policymaking from industry pressure and ensure robust, measurable and accountable actions in the final UN Political Declaration. We remain committed to partnering with the global community to achieve ambitious outcomes that protect health, promote equity and secure sustainable economic and social development.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by an equitable and effective public health system. We work with governments, communities and organizations around the world to reimagine public health so that health is supported in all the places we live, work and play. The result is millions of people living longer, healthier lives.
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