Advocates for noncommunicable disease (NCD) alliances from Cameroon, Mexico, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, and the African region are assembling in New York to discuss, decide, and coordinate strategies that aim to hasten action on NCD prevention and care and to support the realization of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
NCD advocates are also calling for the engagement of people living with NCDs to ensure that UHC remains people-centred. Key advocates attending include Ratna Devi of the Our Views, Our Voices global advisory committee, who has lived experience of NCDs; Joseph Mucumbitsi, chairperson of the Rwanda NCD Alliance and President of the East Africa NCD Alliance; and Saunthari Somasundaram, chairperson of the Malaysia NCD Alliance, President of the National Cancer Society of Malaysia, and member of the NCDA Board of Directors.
NCD alliances around the globe have been engaged in country-level NCD and UHC advocacy work and will be sharing their knowledge and experience with each other to strengthen their call to key stakeholders, including Heads of State and Government, to engage at the High-Level Meeting on 21 September 2023 and take the lead in the progressive achievement of UHC by ensuring equity in their UHC health benefits packages across the three dimensions of financial, population, and service coverage, and to meet the needs of people living with NCDs. These discussions will be essential to maximise the opportunity of the upcoming 2023 United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on UHC, to take place on 21 September.
In the lead up to the HLM in September and in the week prior to the meeting, the NCD Alliance will be running a series of events and activities as part of the Global Week for Action campaign which has ’Care’ as its theme for this year. The Global Week for Action aims to deliver one clear message to government, donors, international agencies, and the private sector: The moment for caring now.
