On Thursday 27 September 2018, the Friends of the Task Force met during the Third High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The side-event was hosted by the Russian Federation and WHO and co-sponsored by Jamaica, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates. Member States, UN agencies and non-State actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector participated.
The main objectives of the meeting were to:
- hear how Member States are developing whole-of-government responses to NCD and understand their main challenges;
- critically review how the UN system is responding to Member States’ demands for technical assistance;
- assess how the UN system should scale up action – including mobilizing domestic and international financing, in line with the 2017 ECOSOC resolution; and
- identify opportunities for greater engagement with NGOs and the private sector in line with the 2018 ECOSOC resolution;
- present the 2018 Task Force awards.
Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Health of the Russian Federation explained how the Government allocated USD 1 million for the Task Force last year for WHO and UNDP to develop NCD investment cases for 11 low- and middle-income countries. Minster Skvortsova then set out her Government’s future plans, “I am pleased to inform that we will expand our support to the UNIATF in the amount of USD 1 million annually for the next 5 years, to expand the geography of catalytic support provided to countries”. The Minister call on others to step up their support, “we invite other countries to join the group of Friends of the Task Force to bring countries on the right track in achieving NCD related Sustainable Development Goals”.
Dr Rajitha Senarathne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Sri Lanka was clear on the value of the Task Force, saying that “Sri Lanka has benefited much from the two task force missions that have provided important recommendations to help and strengthen our response to NCDs. I have witnessed with pleasure that the Task Force in a short period of time has become such an effective platform in supporting national NCDs programs around the world.”
The Minister of Health and Family Welfare of India, Jagat Prakash Nadda described their health promotion, ddetection and management programmes. He highlighted the value of the gathering partners at these “Friends” events, saying he was, “Thankful to UNIATF for recognizing efforts of India towards NCDs, which gives us more spirited enthusiasm to continue the work towards NCDs”.
The President of Cabo Verde, Jorge Carlos Fonseca described the country’s campaign to reduce harmful use of alcohol. The government-wide campaign, “Less Alcohol, More Life” is run in partnership with UN agencies and NGOs. The President acknowledged the Friends as a platform for sharing experiences; “I would like to thank the Task Force for recognizing the work that we have been doing in this field.”
Jospeh Kibachio from Kenya said that it was important to take “The unity that we see exemplified here by the UN bodies to the country level”. He encouraged an even greater attempt to convene UN agencies within countries. He reminded the meeting that, “Because NCDs have more determinants outside of the health sector than within the health sector, we need you more than you can imagine at the country level.” Dr Kibachio also voiced Kenya’s support for the Catalytic Fund.
Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director-General of the WHO was clear; additional financing was required for countries to maximize the impact of the Task Force, saying that there was a need for governments, the private sector and donors to explore financing for the prevention and control of NCDs and to mobilize adequate predictable and sustainable resources for the programmatic work of the Task Force. She provided a clear clarion call, “I call upon all UN sister agencies to invest more in their response, I am calling upon developing partners to increase resources for the work of the Task Force and I am also urging UN agencies and development partners to work together to develop a facility that low and lower-middle income countries can access in order to catalyze domestic action and receive technical assistance from the UN system in order to meet the NCDs-related SDG targets.”
Dr Swaminathan highlighted the 2018 ECOSOC resolutions that calls upon the Task Force and its members to develop wide-ranging partnerships to achieve public health goals. “This is something we have heard continuously during the two days of the high-level meetings on health at this UNGA” she said before adding, “I am pleased that there are a large number of non-state actors are in the room because partnerships are definitely going to be a major focus of the work of the Task Force this year and beyond.
Anders Nordstrom, the Swedish Ambassador for Global Health expressed his support for the UN efforts in tackling NCDs saying, “On the Swedish side, we are strongly interested in and supportive of the international multilateral UN system and we invest in both in the system but also in the reforms.” He went on to say that responding to NCDs requires a coherent response to Agenda 2030 and he indicated that we are there yet. He highlighted the importance of WHO leadership; “We would like to see WHO as the health lead, not just the health sector lead.”
Tim Martineau, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS described the similarities between the AIDS response and the NCD response. He described important lessons for NCDs from the HIV/AIDS response.
Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC said that, “UNODC is a proud member of the UN inter-agency Task Force” and highlighted the joint UNODC/WHO program to increase availability of pain medication for cancer patients and the ongoing work on mental health and drug use disorders. He emphasized that without funding, the UN system could not support Member States in reducing the burden of NCDs.
Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of FAO indicated the importance of sustainable food systems and healthy diets when it comes to the NCD response. She highlighted the need for social protection policies to ensure that all people have access to nutritional food. She said, “We need to have taxes on unhealthy food products, to promote nutrition education, and to advocate for consumer behaviour to change.”
Irene Khan, Director-General of the International Development Law Organization emphasized the role of laws and regulations. “For years we have looked at NCDs through the lens of public health. But, today, as we take a multidimensional approach, we have to understand the importance of the rule of law as critical to it,” she said. “Law should go beyond regulation; it is also about the empowerment of people, so people can make informed choices and that means giving information to people, and allowing them to make these choices,” she added.
There were a number of other interventions from the floor, including Egypt, UAE as well as IOM, IAEA, UNFPA, UNICEF and Novartis Foundation.
In her closing remarks, Svetlana Akselrod, Assistant Director General of the WHO reiterated the need for a multisectoral approach to tackling NCDs: “I want to underline again that the WHO alone cannot achieve SDG 3.4 and that is why we have to all have to work together.”