21
JAN
URGENT - WFOT: WHO call for comments - Noncommunicable Diseases
WHO has identified the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD’s) (WHO GCM/NCD) has a major global and regional agenda (WHO Global NCD Action Plan 2013–2020) and will be asking national governments to sign off on this which will then impact on national health agendas.
WHO has identified the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD’s) (WHO GCM/NCD) has a major global and regional agenda (WHO Global NCD Action Plan 2013–2020) and will be asking national governments to sign off on this which will then impact on national health agendas. NCDs, also known as chronic diseases, are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally slow progression. The four main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.
Key facts about NCD’s
- NCDs kill more than 36 million people each year.
- Nearly 80% of NCD deaths - 29 million - occur in low- and middle-income countries.
- More than nine million of all deaths attributed to NCDs occur before the age of 60; 90% of these "premature" deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
- Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.3 million people annually, followed by cancers (7.6 million), respiratory diseases (4.2 million), and diabetes (1.3 million1).
- These four groups of diseases account for around 80% of all NCD deaths.
- They share four risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets.
WHO’s World Health Assembly agreed to endorse the terms-of-reference of the WHO GCM/NCD in May 2014, as follows:
· The scope and purpose of the WHO GCM/NCD is to facilitate and enhance coordination of activities, multistakeholder engagement and action across sectors at the local, national, regional and global levels, in order to contribute to the implementation of the WHO Global NCD Action Plan 2013–2020.
- The functions of the WHO GCM/NCD are:
o Advocating and raising awareness on NCDs
o Disseminating knowledge and information on how to address NCDs
o Encouraging innovation and identifying barriers
o Advancing multisectoral action for NCDs
o Advocating for the mobilisation of resources for NCDs
The WHO GCM/NCD will be led by Member States. Other Participants include UN organisations, as well as non-State actors.
Accordingly, the WHO Director-General established the Secretariat of the WHO GCM/NCD on 15 September 2014. Relevant NGOs in official relations with WHO were invited to apply to become a participant to the WHO GCM/NCD. WFOT have undertaken this process and has been accepted.
Two Working Groups have been established under WHO GCM/NCD:
• how to realize governments’ commitments to engage with the private sector for the prevention and control NCDs; and
• how to realize governments’ commitment to provide financing for NCDs.
Further details on the Working Groups including background papers for the first meeting of these Working Groups are available at: www.who.int/nmh/ncd-coordination-mechanism/working-groups.
WFOT has been invited to review these background papers and provide feedback. All feedback will be published on the WHO GCM/NCD website and will serve as inputs to the Working Groups meetings.
Do you wish to be nominated as an appropriate expert occupational therapist to join a Reference Group for the review of these background documents? This will be a time limited group as the feedback is due to be submitted to WHO by early February 2015.
Please provide your name and email contact details to
Patricia Regan, WFOT Delegate, AOTI patricia.ann.regan@gmail.com TODAY.
It is important that WFOT contributes to the review of these background papers in order to consolidate the contribution occupational therapists can make as well as being part of WFOT’s official WFOT/WHO collaboration.