UN Meeting to Address Growing Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases

Extract

The annual worldwide number of new cancer cases will exceed 20 million by 2030. Currently, 7.6 million people die of cancer each year, more than deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. And cancer is just one of the four major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) identified by the World Health Organization that account for nearly all global morbidity and mortality; the others are diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease. Collectively, NCDs caused 36 million, or 63%, of the 57 million deaths that occurred in 2008. Nine million of those people were younger than 60 years, and more than 90% were in developing countries.

Now the United Nations is turning its attention to the growing problem of NCDs in a high-level meeting on September 19–20, as part of the opening of the 66th session of the General Assembly. “A high-level meeting is one in which all heads of state are invited and expected to participate; they can’t send a substitute unless that person is empowered to make a decision,” said John Seffrin, M.D., CEO of the American Cancer Society. Of all the high-level meetings held in the General Assembly's 65-year history, the only other one to address a health-related issue was for HIV/AIDS in 2001, Seffrin noted. “This is our chance to make sure that the world and policymakers and leaders understand the gravity of the NCD burden in the 21stcentury, especially cancer.”