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WHA66.10

WHA66
WHA66.10 Follow-up to the Political Declaration of the High‑level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases 1
The Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly,
Having considered the reports to the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly on noncommunicable diseases; 2
Recalling the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, 3 which acknowledges that the global burden and threat of noncommunicable diseases constitutes one of the major challenges for development in the twenty-first century and which also requests the development of a comprehensive global monitoring framework, including a set of indicators, calls for recommendations on a set of voluntary global targets, and requests options for strengthening and facilitating multisectoral action for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases through effective partnership;
Welcoming the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, 20–22 June 2012), entitled “The future we want”, 4 which commits to strengthen health systems towards the provision of equitable, universal health coverage and promote affordable access to prevention, treatment, care and support related to noncommunicable diseases, especially cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, and commits to establish or strengthen multisectoral national policies for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases;
Taking note with appreciation of all the regional initiatives undertaken on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, including the Declaration of the Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community entitled “Uniting to stop the epidemic of chronic noncommunicable diseases”, adopted in September 2007, the Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment in Africa, adopted in August 2008, the statement of the Commonwealth Heads of Government on action to combat noncommunicable diseases, adopted in November 2009, the declaration of commitment of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, adopted in June 2009, the Parma Declaration on Environment and Health, adopted by the Member States of the WHO European Region in March 2010, the Dubai Declaration on Diabetes and Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases in the Middle East and Northern Africa Region , adopted in December 2010, the European Charter on Counteracting Obesity, adopted in November 2006, the Aruba Call for Action on Obesity of June 2011, and the Honiara Communique on addressing noncommunicable disease challenges in the Pacific region, adopted in July 2011;
Acknowledging the Moscow Declaration adopted by the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control (Moscow, 28–29 April 2011), endorsed by the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly (resolution WHA64.11), which requests the Director-General to develop, together with relevant United Nations agencies and entities, an implementation and follow‑up plan for the outcomes of the Conference and the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (New York, 19–20 September 2011) for submission to the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly;
Acknowledging also the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health adopted by the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health (Rio de Janeiro, 19–21 October 2011), endorsed by the Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly in resolution WHA65.8, which recognizes that health equity is a shared responsibility and requires the engagement of all sectors of government, all segments of society, and all members of the international community, in an “all‑for‑equity” and “health-for-all” global action;
Recalling resolution EB130.R7, which requests the Director-General to develop, in a consultative manner, a WHO global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases for 2013–2020 and decision WHA65(8) and its historic decision to adopt a global target of a 25% reduction in premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases by 2025;
Reaffirming WHO's leading role as the primary specialized agency for health, including its roles and functions with regard to health policy in accordance with its mandate, and reaffirming its leadership and coordination role in promoting and monitoring global action against noncommunicable diseases in relation to the work of other relevant United Nations agencies, development banks and other regional and international organizations in addressing noncommunicable diseases in a coordinated manner;
Recognizing the primary role and responsibility of governments in responding to the challenges of noncommunicable diseases;
Recognizing also the important role of the international community and international cooperation in assisting Member States, particularly developing countries, in complementing national efforts to generate an effective response to noncommunicable diseases;
Stressing the importance of North–South, South–South and triangular cooperation in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, to promote at the national, regional and international levels an enabling environment to facilitate healthy lifestyles and choices, bearing in mind that South–South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North–South cooperation;
Noting that noncommunicable diseases are often associated with mental disorders and other conditions and that mental disorders often coexist with other medical and social factors as noted in resolution WHA65.4 and that, therefore, the implementation of the WHO global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020 is expected to be implemented coherently and in close coordination with the WHO global mental health action plan 2013–2020 and other WHO action plans at all levels;
Welcoming the overarching principles and approaches of the WHO global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020, 5 and calling for their application in the implementation of all actions to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases;
Recognizing that the United Nations Secretary-General, in collaboration with Member States, WHO and relevant funds, programmes and specialized agencies of the United Nations system is to present to the United Nations General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session a report on the progress achieved in realizing the commitments made in the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non‑communicable Diseases, in preparation for a comprehensive review and assessment in 2014 of the progress achieved in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases,
1.
DECIDES:
(1)
to endorse the global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020; 6
(2)
to adopt the comprehensive global monitoring framework for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, including the set of 25 indicators 7 capable of application across regional and country settings to monitor trends and to assess progress made in the implementation of national strategies and plans on noncommunicable diseases;
(3)
to adopt the set of nine voluntary global targets for achievement by 2025 for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, 7 noting that the target related to a 25% relative reduction in overall mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases concerns premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases between ages 30 and 70, in accordance with the corresponding indicator;
2.
URGES Member States:
(1)
to continue to implement the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, strengthening national efforts to address the burden of noncommunicable diseases, and continuing to implement the Moscow Declaration;
(2)
to implement, as appropriate, the action plan and to take the necessary steps to meet the objectives contained therein;
(3)
to enhance the capacity, mechanisms and mandates, as appropriate, of relevant authorities in facilitating and ensuring action across government sectors;
(4)
to accelerate implementation by Parties of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, including through adopted technical guidelines; other countries to consider acceding to the Convention, as well as to give high priority to the implementation of the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health endorsed in resolution WHA57.17, the global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol endorsed in resolution WHA63.13, and the recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children endorsed in resolution WHA63.14, as being integral to making progress towards the voluntary global targets and realizing the commitments made in the Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases;
(5)
to promote, establish, support and strengthen engagement or collaborative partnerships, as appropriate, including with non-health and non-State actors, such as civil society and the private sector, at the national, subnational and/or local levels for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, according to country circumstances, with a broad multisectoral approach, while safeguarding public health interests from undue influence by any form of real, perceived or potential conflict of interest;
(6)
to consider the development of national noncommunicable disease monitoring frameworks, with targets and indicators based on national situations, taking into consideration the comprehensive global monitoring framework, including the 25 indicators and a set of nine voluntary global targets, building on guidance provided by WHO, to focus on efforts to prevent and address the impacts of noncommunicable diseases, to support scaling up effective noncommunicable disease actions and policies, including technical and financial aspects, and to assess the progress made in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors and determinants;
(7)
to establish and strengthen, as appropriate, a national surveillance and monitoring system to enable reporting including against the 25 indicators of the comprehensive global monitoring framework, the nine voluntary global targets, and any additional regional or national targets and indicators for noncommunicable diseases;
(8)
to recommend that the United Nations Economic and Social Council, before the end of 2013,considers the proposal for a United Nations Task Force on Noncommunicable Diseases, which would coordinate the activities of the United Nations organizations in the implementation of the WHO global noncommunicable disease action plan, and which would be convened and led by WHO and report to the Economic and Social Council, incorporating the work of the United Nations Ad Hoc Interagency Task Force on Tobacco Control while ensuring that tobacco control continues to be duly addressed and prioritized in the new task force mandate;
(9)
to support the work of the Secretariat to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases, in particular through funding relevant work included in the programme budgets;
(10)
to continue to explore the provision of adequate, predictable and sustained resources, through domestic, bilateral, regional and multilateral channels, including traditional and voluntary innovative financing mechanisms and to increase, as appropriate, resources for national programmes for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases;
3.
REQUESTS the Director-General:
(1)
to submit the detailed and disaggregated information on resource requirements necessary to implement the actions for the Secretariat included in the global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020, including information on the financial implications of the establishment of a global coordination mechanism for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, to the first financing dialogue convened by the Director‑General and facilitated by the Chairman of the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee of the Executive Board, on the financing of the Programme budget 2014–2015, with a view to ensuring that all partners have clear information on the specific funding needs, available resources and funding shortfalls of the actions for the Secretariat included in the action plan at the project or activity level;
(2)
to develop draft terms of reference for a global coordination mechanism, as outlined in paragraphs 14–15 of the WHO global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020, aimed at facilitating engagement among Member States, United Nations funds, programmes and agencies, and other international partners and non-State actors, while safeguarding WHO and public health from undue influence by any form of real, perceived or potential conflicts of interest, without pre-empting the results of ongoing WHO discussions on engagement with non-State actors;
(3)
to develop the draft terms of reference referred to in paragraph 3(2) through a formal Member States' 8 meeting in November 2013, preceded by consultations with:
(i)
Member States, 8 including through regional committees;
(ii)
United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and other relevant intergovernmental organizations;
(iii)
nongovernmental organizations and private sector entities, as appropriate, and other relevant stakeholders; and to be submitted, through the Executive Board, to the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly for approval;
(4)
to develop, in consultation with Member States and other relevant partners, a limited set of action plan indicators to inform reporting on progress, which build on the work under way at regional and country levels, are based on feasibility, current availability of data, best available knowledge and evidence, are capable of application across the six objectives of the action plan, and minimize the reporting burden on Member States to assess progress made in 2016, 2018 and 2021 in the implementation of policy options for Member States, recommended actions for international partners, and actions for the Secretariat included in the action plan, and to submit the draft set of action plan indicators, through the Executive Board, to the Sixty-seventh World Health Assembly for approval;
(5)
to work together with other United Nations funds, programmes and agencies to conclude the work, before the end of October 2013, on a division of tasks and responsibilities for United Nations funds, programmes and agencies and other international organizations;
(6)
to provide technical support to Member States, as required, to support the implementation of the WHO global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020;
(7)
to provide technical support to Member States, as required, to establish or strengthen national surveillance and monitoring systems for noncommunicable diseases to support reporting under the global monitoring framework for noncommunicable diseases;
(8)
to provide technical support to Member States, as required, to engage/cooperate with non‑health government sectors and, in accordance with principles for engagement, with non‑State actors, 8 in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases;
(9)
to submit reports on progress made in implementing the action plan, through the Executive Board, to the Health Assembly in 2016, 2018 and 2021, 9 and reports on progress achieved in attaining the nine voluntary global targets in 2016, 2021 and 2026;
(10)
to propose an update of Appendix 3 of the WHO global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2020, as appropriate, to be considered, through the Executive Board, by the World Health Assembly, in the light of new scientific evidence and to continue to update, as appropriate, Appendix 4 of the global action plan. 6
(Ninth plenary meeting, 27 May 2013
Committee A, fifth report)
See Annex 6 for the financial and administrative implications for the Secretariat of this resolution.
Documents A66/8, A66/9 and A66/9 Corr.1.
United Nations General Assembly resolution 66/2.
United Nations General Assembly resolution 66/288.
As detailed in Annex 4, paragraph 18.
Annex 4.
See Annex 4, Appendix 2.
Without prejudice to ongoing discussions on WHO engagement with non-State actors.
The progress reports in 2018 and 2021 should include the outcomes of independent evaluation of the implementation of the global action plan conducted in 2017 and 2020.
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