13.1 Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
Intervention by Norway
Thank you Chairman and congratulations with your appointment,
1 Norway thanks the Secretariat for the reports on this extensive and multi-faceted topic.
2 We all remember last year’s landmark event in the global work to prevent and control non-communicable diseases: The United Nations General Assembly, in the political declaration of the High-level Meeting on prevention and control of NCDs, assigned WHO to take the lead on global work against NCDs. The General Assembly looked at four non-communicable diseases, and their four common risk factors. It asked the WHO to complete within 2012 a comprehensive global monitoring framework, including a set of voluntary targets and indicators.
3 Now, the Member States and the Secretariat of the WHO need to make sure the task we have accepted is carried out. One element is to complete this work in 2012. Another important element for Norway is that the global framework include targets for all the four main risk factors; unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and alcohol. We observe that alcohol has been in and out of the proposed targets. However, alcohol is an important risk factor for NCD, it is part of the request from the UN and should be included in the targets.
4 Concerning the health system response, Norway will prefer a target reflecting access to primary health services with ability to diagnose and treat common diseases, including NCDs.
5 NCD is currently an epidemic moving in the wrong direction. The area needs to be top priority of WHO for the years to come.