A side-event hosted by the Russian Federation and WHO, “Friends of UN Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs): Supporting Member States to achieve the NCD-related Sustainable Development Goals” has further raised the profile of the Task Force.
The meeting, held on 22 September 2016 during the Seventy First United Nations General Assembly in New York, provided an overview of the current work of the Task Force, showcasing action at country level and outlining a number of global joint programmes that now require funding in order to become operational.
The event was attended by the President of Sri Lanka, the Honorable Maithripala Sirisena and a number of ministers of health. The President of Sri Lanka had previously met with the Task Force Mission in 2015 and is clearly a champion of the Task Force.
WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan was clear at the onset, “The Task Force is one of the best platforms for helping governments scale up effective multisectoral actions against NCD at the country level. It deserves its friends.”
Honorable Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Healthcare of Russia, highlighted the Russian Federation’s support for the Task Force, describing the need for multisectoral interventions, especially in the area of tobacco and the harmful use of alcohol. The minister stressed that without outer catalytic support for action, countries will not manage to combat NCDs. “Having global and national NCD targets and a UN Task Force as an operational mechanism, we now have to act to support the Task Force,” Minister Skvortsova made clear.
Honorable John Boyce, Minister of Health of Barbados agreed highlighting the contribution that the Task Force has made to driving forward action in NCDs in his country. “The Task Force is a mechanism that works. It delivers, and needs to be supported by all governments,” he said.
Japan already contributes funds to the Task Force and Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Health highlighted the importance of the Task Force in promoting a whole-of-government, whole-of-UN, and whole-of-society approach. She underscored that Japan will continue contributing to the Task Force.
Ambassador Jimmy Kolker, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, United States Department of Health and Human Services, welcomed the work of the Task Force and in particular its new programme on cervical cancer, in which 7 UN agencies are participating.
Ms Annette Widmann-Mauz, Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry of Health of Germany, assured those at the meeting that Germany will be a reliable partner of the Task Force in the years ahead, while Mr Raniero Guerra, Director General from Italy’s Ministry of Health expressed his government's readiness to join forces with others to support the Task Force, highlighting the opportunities available through Italy’s presidency of the G7 in 2017.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa described the need of African countries for technical support in tackling NCDs, recognizing the value of the work of the Task Force. The Task Force has already undertaken joint mission to Kenya, Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo. “Multisectoral actions are easy to say, but difficult to implement, and that is why we need ongoing support from the Task Force in my region” she said.
“I am impressed with the Task Force’s tool aimed to integration of NCDs into country UN Development Assistance Frameworks,” she added.
Mrs Esther Lungu, the First Lady of Zambia informed the meeting that Zambia will be hosting the Task Force in December 2016. She was clear that progress in tackling communicable diseases is about to “go down the drain” if NCDs were not addressed speedily. “A life saved from tuberculosis now can be easily lost because of heart diseases or diabetes, and a life saved from malaria will be lost from cervical cancer,” Mrs Lungu said.
Dr Douglas Webb, Senior Adviser, HIV, Health & Development Group, UN Development Programme (UNDP), said that the demands on the Task Force to catalyse multisectoral action and increase domestic financing for NCDs were increasing month by month. He said that countries are now asking for support in developing the investment case for scaling up action to address NCDs. The need now, Webb said, is for partners to provide the finances required for the Task Force to deliver technical support to governments.
Ms Katie Dain, Executive Director of the NCD Alliance, described how the Alliance has been working with the Task Force at the country level, most recently in Viet Nam.
“Looking forward for the 2018 high-level review of global progress in NCD prevention and control we really need to focus on investments in Task Force’s actions in order to catalyze an increase in domestic financing to respond to NCDs,” Dain underscored. “With its growing network of national and regional alliances civil society is definitely a friend of the Task Force, providing platforms that could be effectively utilized by governments to facilitate a multisectoral, whole-of-society approach to NCDs,” she added.
Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General on NCDs and Mental Health, stressed that the Task Force has shown that it can deliver but it now needs to be sustainably resourced in order to deliver on the increasing demands of Member States, particularly low- and middle income countries. “By investing in the Task Force, you are investing directly to countries to meet national NCD-related SDG targets,” Dr Chestnov stressed. He said that he now plans to follow up with partners on commitments made at the meeting in order to generate greater financing for the work of the Task Force.
The Task Force’s latest publication 'What government ministries need to know about noncommunicable diseases’ was launched at the meeting by Dr Nick Banatvala, Senior Adviser, Office of Assistant Director-General for NCDs and Mental Health, who moderated the event. The briefs provide ministers and senior officials across government with clear information about how NCDs affect their sector, as well as about the steps they can take to respond to the challenges of NCDs while advancing their own objectives.