Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD)
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are now the leading cause of mortality worldwide. They are responsible for 70% of global deaths; equivalent to 40 million people. Poverty, the impact of the globalization of marketing and trade of products deleterious to health, rapid urbanization and population ageing are the main drivers of this global epidemic of premature deaths from NCDs. As stated in the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases 2013-2020, poor quality diets are among the top risk factors contributing to the global burden of disease. Specifically, the NCD burden is associated with diets low in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, seafood-derived omega-3 fatty acids but high in sugar, sodium and trans-fatty acids.
According to the WHO’s Global NCD Progress Monitor and the 2016 Global Nutrition Policy Review, governments are making some progress in their response to address dietary risk factors and increased prevalence of NCDs, but not enough to meet the global targets set for 2025.
Latest content relevant to NCDs
School Nutrition Inventory
20/12/2020 - School Nutrition Inventory, edition 1-2020 Schools offer an opportune and favorable setting to accelerate action and contribute to the systemic action required to end malnutrition in all its forms. [...]
Nourishing the Post COVID-19 World: A special session of the UNIATF’s COVID-19 Meetings
13/11/2020 - On November 13th the UNIATF COVID-19 Meeting had a special session on nutrition titled ‘Nourishing the Post COVID-19 World’. Facilitated by UNSCN the session brought together [...]
UNGA Side event - UN Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases: working with Member States to deliver the NCD-related Sustainable Development Goal targets during and beyond COVID-19
24/09/2020 - Thursday, 24 September 2020 - 10 AM (NY time)Virtual event - Register here This UNGA side-event will review the current work of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on NCDs (UNIATF) and agree on the ways [...]
Global Week for Action on NCDs
07/09/2020 - 7-13 September 2020 The annual Global Week for Action on NCDs campaign draws on outrage, energy, inspiration, determination and optimism to focus efforts on ensuring NCD prevention and control get [...]
Strengthened Action on Nutrition in the COVID-19 Response
31/07/2020 - Putting healthy, affordable and sustainable diets at the heart of a human-rights based response to COVID-19 This narrative was created by members of the UN Interagency Task Force on NCD’s [...]
Healthy Urban Childhoods
08/10/2019 - 8 – 9 October 2019Uppsala, Sweden Uppsala Health Summit is a recurring international policy arena for dialogue on challenges for health and healthcare, and how we can overcome them. In 2019, [...]
Supporting Member States to achieve the NCD-related Sustainable Development Goals targets
23/09/2019 - Monday 23 September 2019 - 13:15-14:30 (EDT)Conference room 7, UN Headquarters, New York Friends of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable [...]
Joint child malnutrition estimates - Levels and trends, 2019 edition
05/04/2019 - The UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Group team released new joint estimates for child stunting, overweight, underweight, wasting and severe wasting (March 2019 edition) using the same methodology as in previous [...]
Transforming the food system to fight non-communicable diseases
29/01/2019 - Malnutrition and unhealthy diets are important risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Francesco Branca and colleagues call for changes in both what and how food is produced, marketed, and [...]
The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report
27/01/2019 - Malnutrition in all its forms, including obesity, undernutrition, and other dietary risks, is the leading cause of poor health globally. In the near future, the health effects of climate change will [...]
