{"id":5783,"date":"2025-02-14T08:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T07:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forum.ncdalliance.org\/?p=5783"},"modified":"2025-02-15T08:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T07:07:08","slug":"ncda-global-forum-day-1-coming-together-to-act-on-ncds-during-a-time-of-polycrises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forum.ncdalliance.org\/es\/2025-02-14\/ncda-global-forum-day-1-coming-together-to-act-on-ncds-during-a-time-of-polycrises\/","title":{"rendered":"Global NCDA Forum Day 1: Coming together to act on NCDs during a time of polycrisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The curtain is up on the fourth Global NCD Alliance Forum! It is only five years (almost to the day) since the last Forum, held in Sharjah just as COVID-19 was just beginning to make its presence felt in the headlines. An astonishing amount has changed in global health in the intervening time \u2013 but, throughout it all, NCDs have remained a constant threat.<\/p>

Now is, in fact, the perfect time to bring together advocates for change in NCDs from around the world because in September, the United Nations will hold its fourth High-level Meeting on NCDs (UNHLM). This opportunity is providing real impetus for our three days of presentations, discussions, knowledge-sharing and solutions-building.<\/p>

The 2025 Global Forum has moved south-west to Rwanda, the first time that the Forum has been held in Sub-Saharan Africa. This beautiful country just south of the equator is providing a lush, green welcome to the 700 delegates who have flown into Kigali from 66 countries.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pre-Forum planning: civil society engagement<\/h4>

The work of the Forum began yesterday (Wednesday), with invitation-only, all-day pre-conference sessions on connecting communities for change, advancing advocacy on type 1 diabetes, youth engagement and leadership, and grassroots innovation in primary health care (PHC) in Francophone Africa. There were also half-day workshops on strengthening financing in Africa through universal health coverage (UHC) and PHC, and on ensuring that there is action on air pollution at the UNHLM later in the year.<\/p>

This morning, before the start of the formal plenary proceedings, civil society organisations from all over the world \u2013 including youth delegates and people with lived experience \u2013 shared their hopes for the UNHLM, working together to plan how best to encourage governments to take seriously their attendance at the meeting (preferably with a delegation including their head of state or government), the commitments that they make, and the action that they would like to see happen once September has passed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our opening session began with a welcome from Nadine Karema, Executive Director, Partners in Health, Rwanda<\/strong>. Dr Monica Arora, President of the Alianza de ENT<\/strong>, stressed that governments are falling short on their commitments, with the prevalence of risk factors remaining stubbornly high. This must delight the companies that produce unhealthy products: \u2018Profits are still trumping lives.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr Joseph Mucumbitsi, Chairperson of the Alianza de ENT de Ruanda<\/strong>, highlighted that Rwanda stands at a pivotal moment: progress in maternal and child health and control of communicable diseases has raised healthy life expectancy by over 20 years, but \u2018these gains are threatened by the silent and deadly rise of NCDs\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Next, Dr Gina Agiostratidou, Program Director at the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust<\/strong>, talked about the need to eliminate silos, to keep people with lived experience at the forefront, to build bridges across multiple health issues, and to collaborate with partners across all sectors: \u2018I am optimistic that we will look back to this Forum as a turning point for reaching the future.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

After a video message from Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO<\/strong>, Dr Yvan Butera, Minister of State for Health, Ministry of Health Rwanda<\/strong>, provided some inspiring examples of steps that are making a demonstrable difference in NCD prevention in Rwanda. He then officially opened the Forum, stating that \u2018this is a call to action at a pivotal moment in global health\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The opening plenary focused on NCDs in the Africa region. Moderator Dr Githinji Gitahi<\/strong> (CEO of AMREF Health Africa) highlighted the specific challenge of the moment: that the already small investment in NCDs is likely to come under even greater pressure as the world\u2019s aid budgets are dramatically squeezed with \u2018the few dollars we have likely to be channelled away to cover the gaps in communicable disease\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u2018NCDs remain one of the greatest health and economic challenges of our time\u2019\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDr Jean Kaseya, Director General, Africa CDC<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwittear<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A lively panel session heard from Lea Kilenga<\/strong> (Africa Sickle Cell Organisation), who stressed the vital role that civil society involvement has played in progress on NCDs since the last Forum: \u2018Civil society is the biggest instrument to uphold the right to health, by empowering community voices.\u2019<\/em> Professor Claude Mambo Muvunyi<\/strong> (Rwanda Biomedical Centre) explained how Africa as a region faces many priorities, but that foreign aid has, in the past, focused on infectious disease \u2013 which in part explains today\u2019s gap between planning on NCDs and implementation of NCD services. For Dr Kouamivi Agboyibor<\/strong> (WHO AFRO), political engagement is essential as, without this, NCD policies will not be sufficiently adopted, endorsed and financed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u2018Implementation, implementation, implementation!\u2019\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDr Mary Efua Commeh, Ghana Health Service<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwittear<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The dual burden of infectious and noncommunicable diseases creates unique circumstances in many African countries, where HIV prevalence is higher than the global average. While people with HIV are living longer thanks to scaling up of HIV treatment programmes, their risk of developing NCDs and neurocognitive conditions that are common with aging, is significantly increasing. The increased exposure to risk factors like tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy food, and air pollution are also contributing factors, as are physical inactivity, stress and mental health issues.<\/p>

Today, NCDs \u2013 such as cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and also mental health conditions \u2013 such as depression and anxiety, account for\u00a074 per of deaths globally<\/a>. The number of people living with NCDs dwarfs that of many other health issues combined. 1 billion people are living with obesity, 1.3 billion with hypertension, a billion living with a mental health disorder, and half a billion people living with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Itete Karagire<\/strong> (East African Community \u2013 EAC) introduced the collaborative process behind a new Regional Framework on NCDs, which will guide East Africa\u2019s response to addressing NCDs for the next five years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Inspiring, mobilising and powering up<\/h2>

The formal proceedings of the day ended with the first of three sets of thematic parallel sessions. Each session is organised by NCD Alliance members and they fall under the three key subthemes of the Forum:<\/p>

Inspire leadership<\/em><\/h4>