NCD Alliance Advocacy Briefing - 75th Session of World Health Assembly (WHA75)

This briefing note provides background and key advocacy messages on the noncommunicable disease (NCD) community’s priorities for the 75th session of the WHO World Health Assembly (WHA75), covering NCD-relevant items.

The NCD community is encouraged to see the NCD-related WHA75 agenda, which demonstrates that much progress has been made and highlights the importance of action on NCDs at global and national levels. This is particularly timely given that we are now just three years ahead of the next UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs, and need concerted action at all levels, if global NCD targets are to be met by 2030. We welcome the prominence of NCDs in Member States’ priorities within the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On the whole, we align with the NCD Agenda outlined in the official documents and strongly recommend that Member States adopt the omnibus decision on NCDs (Agenda Item 14.1). We do see opportunities for the current text and associated actions to be strengthened as outlined in this briefing. We are concerned with some specific text included, particularly under Draft Action Plan (2022-2030) to effectively implement the global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public health priority. Our recommendations are detailed in the brief.

To support meaningful action on NCDs, during the WHA75 we call for Member States to:

• Adopt the omnibus decision on NCDs (Agenda Item 14.1), including its 10 proposals and associated targets.
• Consider the NCD community’s calls to action contained in this briefing when drafting WHA75 statements. Throughout this briefing, recommendation documents are classified as: