The World Health Organization is organizing the Global Meeting to Accelerate Progress on SDG Target 3.4 on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. The Meeting is hosted by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman from 9 to 12 December 2019 in Muscat. 

The Global Meeting will have the following segments:

• Technical meeting for National NCD Directors and Programme Managers (9-10 December)
• High-level Segment for Member States and United Nations Organizations, as well as non-State actors, at level of Ministers and heads of organizations (afternoon of 10 December);
• Multistakeholder Partners’ Forum (11 December);
• Regional Meetings, side events and site visits (12 December).

The objectives of the Global Meeting, among others, are to strengthen the capacity of national NCD Directors and Managers. We are, therefore, sharing here the preliminary annotated agenda with the NCD focal points in order to provide a better insight into the sessions' objectives and key messages. 

 

Please note that this agenda has still not been shared widely, and this annotated version to which the changes are still being made, is shared solely with the KAP Community on National NCD Focal points. 

 

Preliminary Annotated Agenda

Monday, 9 December 2019

09:00-10:00| Welcome and opening remarks: Celebrating the powerful contribution that SDG 3.4 can make to socio-economic development in countries by 2030

Key messages:

• How progress towards UHC has increased access to services to prevent, diagnose and treat NCDs and mental health conditions
• How protecting people from the impact of health emergencies has included the continuity of care for people who suffer from NCDs and mental health conditions
• How improving health and well-being has intensified action against tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and air pollution

 

10:00-11:00| Plenary 1: Prioritizing action to ensure that more people benefit from UHC (building on the outcomes of the High-level Meeting on UHC)

Key messages:

• How to improve quality essential health services to address NCDs and mental health conditions?
• How to explore synergies between NCDs and CDs at the primary care level for UHC?
• How to reduce the number of people suffering from financial hardships from NCDs and mental health conditions?
• How to improve access to essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and devices to address NCDs and mental health in primary health care?

 

TRANSFORMATIVE PATHWAYS, PARALLEL SESSIONS

11:30-13:00| PS 1.2: WHO global initiative to reduce childhood cancer

Objectives:

• Increase awareness of why and how childhood cancer should be included as part of the NCD response, and opportunities to integrate childhood cancer interventions in health system strengthening efforts for NCDs
• Increase awareness of the general approach and CURE All framework of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer, and sample interventions implemented to date, including how childhood cancer is being integrated into national NCD efforts in the Philippines, Peru, and Myanmar
• Identify opportunities for all stakeholders to contribute towards the Global Initiative targets

Key Messages:

• Children with cancer deserve our investment. Childhood cancer can showcase an approach to accelerate progress in NCDs, where global disparities are large, and interventions to address the disparities are feasible and affordable.
• National cancer control programs and policies should integrate childhood cancer, encompassing elements of the CURE All framework.
• Engagement of all member states and stakeholders is vital for the success of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer.

 

11:30-13:00| PS 1.3: WHO global initiative to eliminate cervical cancer

Objectives:

• To provide update on WHO global initiative to eliminate cervical cancer
• To inform how implementation of WHO global strategy will contribute to WHO Members States efforts to reduce premature mortality from NCDs and attain the SDG target 3.4 by 2030
• To discuss strategic actions outlined in WHO global strategy towards cervical cancer elimination

Key messages:

• Global elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem is feasible and the strategy is cost-effective.
• Bringing countries on the path towards elimination by implementing Global Strategy 2020-2030 will contribute to the achievement of the SDG target 3.4. by reduction of premature mortality from cervical cancer.
• Strategic actions outlined in the Global Strategy are aimed to achieve high coverage of key interventions.

 

11:30-13:00| PS 1.4: WHO global mental health initiative

Objectives:

• Briefing WHO’s members states and global stakeholders on the WHO’s Mental Health Special initiative.
• Sharing of success stories and lessons learned in regions and countries to promote mental health integration in the regional and national UHC packages.
• Collecting feedback on proposed implementation process and way forward for the Special Initiative

Key messages:

• Mental Health is integral to achieving the sustainable development agenda of 2030. There can be no health or sustainable development without mental health.
•  By 2023 WHO aims to ensures access to quality and affordable mental health care at least 100 million more people across 12 priority countries.
• The WHO Mental Health Special will focus on evidence-based strategic interventions to scale up inclusive, community-based, integrated delivery of mental health services.
• The strategic interventions to achieve this ambitious goal will require US$ 60 million over five years for full implementation, based on the average cost of 1 million US$, per country per year.
• Strategic actions required for implementing the Special Initiative include: advancing mental health policies, advocacy, and human rights and scaling up interventions and services across community-based, general health and specialist settings.
• Examples of the types of services countries will implement through the special initiative include mental health care in primary health centers, community-based mental health centers, mental health units in general hospitals, day centers, mobile clinics, and outreach services for home-based support— offering evidence-based treatment, rehabilitation, care and recovery.

 

14:00-15:30| Plenary 2: Prioritizing action to ensure that more people are better protected from health emergencies, and to promote the health of refugees and migrants

Objectives:

• How to integrate NCD prevention and control and Mental health and psychosocial support into international/ national humanitarian preparedness and response systems and plans, and across sectors to enhance equitable access to essential NCD prevention and control and MHPSS services?
• How the needs of displaced and host communities must be assessed and addressed in an inclusive, comprehensive and sustainable way that build bridges between host communities and displaced people, and actively avoid exclusion and discrimination?
• How to utilize the opportunity provided by Crises to “build back better” and create a more resilient and fit-for-purpose health system which advances progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and building of resilience into communities?

Key Messages:

• Crisis situations can impact lives in a variety of ways. In crisis-affected communities, one person in five lives with some form of mental condition, from mild depression and anxiety to psychosis. That’s three times more than the general population worldwide suffering from these conditions, and yet within the domains of humanitarian assistance and development cooperation, the focus is almost solely on the treatment or reconstruction of physical damage. For too long now, the international community has focused exclusively on healing the physically injured and rebuilding devastated structures. Somewhere along the line, it has forgotten that broken souls need mending too. 
• MHPSS for affected populations including Migrants and refugees can be addressed more efficiently by ensuring it is systematically integrated into preparedness and emergency response plans ;recovery and rebuilding mechanisms; embedded into local and national services, as well as linked to longer-term sustainable investments in social welfare, education and health systems, including through the implementation of universal health coverage.
• To ensure that the needs for NCD prevention and control are met, these should be integrated as part of a continuum of care that is multi-layered, including governance, service organisation, monitoring of progress and impact, national preparedness and response planning, and establishment of long-term financing including refugee and migrant health needs and rights within the national health systems of host countries.
• Humanitarian actors should prioritize building the long-term capacities of local government services, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and community actors to support NCD prevention and control as well as MHPSS needs for refugees, migrants and internally displaced, as well as host populations.
• Increased focus on research and potential interventions related to social determinants and risk factors for health and ill health, focusing more on creating environments where people can recover and have better health and wellbeing. 
• As the emergency begins to wane, funders and program planners must have recovery strategies that encompass “building back better” health systems and services, because the health consequences of public health emergencies are long-term.

 

16:00-17:30| PS 2.1: NCD Emergency Kit

Objectives:

• Review current experiences, challenges and lessons learned in the procurement, distribution and use of the NCD emergency kit in emergency countries.
• Discuss the relevance of the content and modularity of the NCD kit to country NCD burden and needs.
• Anticipating a revision of the kit in 2020, suggest amendment to the kit content list and modules to be made.
• Identify beyond the kit experience, what needs to be done to better ensure a better inclusion of NCD and mental health as part of humanitarian assistance? In term of framing/advocacy, funding proposal and operational planning?

Key messages:

• The main concern for people affected by NCDs in emergency settings is the lack of continuity of care. A way to accommodate this is by strengthening and scaling up the use of existing primary healthcare systems in emergency settings, and by doing this as far as possible avoid building parallel systems to care for NCDs.
• The NCD kit allowed emergency countries to secure a set of essential medicines, supplies, and equipment thus mitigating supply chain disruption in emergency settings. Doing so, the kit offers also a way to bridge the humanitarian-development nexus, supporting countries to prioritize an essential set of medicines and technologies for the management of the most common NCD conditions at PHC, thus contributing to the progressive realization of universal health coverage.
• An emergency kit alone doesn’t address the various pre-existing or emergency-related gaps limiting the provision of essential services. More attention should be given to the key health systems requirements (such as trained health workforce or minimum health information system) to ensure adequate service provision.
• Addressing NCDs and mental health in emergencies requires these conditions to be integrated into existing humanitarian landscape, emergency operating frameworks and procedures across the various phases of the emergency cycle from preparedness, response to recovery.
• Emergency funding appeals and funding schemes should take into consideration NCD/mental health as part of efforts made to support the preservation, restoration of essential preventive and curative health services.
• There is a need to further develop standards, normative guidance, tools and service packages for NCD management in emergencies, drawing and taking stock of current and past humanitarian responses. The kit revision needs to draw on those experiences.
• Beyond “The number of kit procured or distributed”, accountability frameworks and indicators should be developed to monitor, evaluate and report on the performance of NCD/mental health-related emergency response.

 

16:00-17:30| PS 2.3 Prevention and Management of Noncommunicable Diseases in Refugee and Migrant Communities

Objectives:

• Bring high-level stakeholders together to discuss NCDs among refugee and migrant populations globally.
• Inform policymaking and program development by discussing country experiences, strategies and interventions. 
• Exchange best practice examples of interventions in different country and regional contexts.

Key messages:

• NCDs are not just a problem of high-income countries, the greatest burden of disease is now in low- and middle-income countries.
• Migration is a social determinant of health. The health status of refugees and migrants is shaped by their surrounding conditions in the place of origin, during transit, and in host communities. The particular conditions refugees and migrants often experience, as for example restrictive migration policies, their legal status, economic hardship and anti-migrant sentiments, increase health inequities and NCD burden for them.
• Migrants are not a homogenous group and discerning the health status of these populations is difficult.
• Many of the issues related to the health of refugees and migrants involves commitment and cooperation across multiple levels – including mental health care, physical healthcare, social services, education, employment agencies, housing, law enforcement, etc. – adopting multisectoral approaches to address social and environmental determinants of NCDs, with appropriate legal and fiscal instruments to develop health promotion environments.
• To support good decision-making, the generation of high-quality migrant-specific data is essential, which requires the inclusion of migrant-status and related information vital statistics and routine data collection.
• Cross-border collaboration can play an important role to ensure the continuous care of refugees and migrants with NCDs as well as to improve surrounding conditions for refugees and migrants, for example, safe routes and access to health services.
• No achievement of SDG 3.4 without refugee and migrant health. No public health without refugee and migrant health.

 

16:00-17:30| PS 2.4 Synergising action to address the burden of TB and NCDs in vulnerable populations

Objectives:

• Need for implementation of the actions outlined in the UN High Level Meeting political declarations for TB and NCDs, the Moscow Declaration to End TB, putting in focus the needs of vulnerable populations through approaches protecting and promoting equity, ethics, gender equality, and human rights in addressing TB and NCDs, and based on sound, evidence-based, public health principles.
• Advance universal health coverage as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, prioritize, as appropriate, high-risk groups and populations in vulnerable situations such as women and children, indigenous people, health care workers, the elderly, migrants, refugees, internally displaced people, prisoners, people living with HIV/AIDS, people who use drugs, miners, urban and rural poor and under-served populations.
• Support the implementation of a multisectoral accountability framework that is based on approaches protecting and promoting equity, gender equality, human rights and ethics.

Key messages:

• Vulnerable and marginalized populations carry inequitable burdens of TB and NCDs. These populations include: poor and food-insecure communities, prisoners, migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, miners and others working and living in risk-prone settings, the elderly, marginalized women and children, drug users and those who excessively use alcohol. These groups face major barriers to accessing quality health and other services, due to socio-political, cultural, gender-related and legal barriers as well as direct violations of their human rights. These barriers include discrimination, stigma, marginalization and catastrophic economic costs. It is important that universal coverage and financial protection mechanisms.
• The WHO End TB Strategy and Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs are built on a human rights-based approach including principles of non-discrimination, equity, participation, ethical values, access to justice and accountability. The SDG 2030 targets will go unreached without explicitly pursuing these principles for all persons – ‘leaving no one behind’. 
• Yet, action is too slow in increasing access to quality and ethically-sound prevention and care services, facing violations of human rights and addressing the social determinants of TB. Without urgent action, vulnerable and marginalized populations such as the very poor, migrants, refugees, and prisoners will continue to be left behind with a disproportionately high burden of TB. Ministers of Health have the opportunity to work across sectors, including with other Ministries such as Justice, Social Welfare, Labour, Interior and Finance, as well as civil society and communities, to address this issue.
• Millions of migrants are denied access to health services and remain invisible in several key international health dialogues, both in the context of large acute crisis-driven migration or within the economic and disparity-driven migration. Given the urgent global health needs related to migrants and refugees, actions below include special attention to these populations.

 

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

09:00-10:30| Plenary 3: Preventing NCDs through healthier environments and lifestyles

Objectives:

• How to reduce risk factors for NCDs, air pollution and mental health conditions through multisectoral action?
• What can better city settings look like and what are the health benefits for the population? How to promote healthy settings applying health-in-all policies?
• How to address the underlying social, economic and environmental determinants of NCDs and the impact of economic, commercial and market factors?

Key messages:

• Premature deaths from NCDs are a major challenge for development in the twenty-first century. A total of 15 million people (aged 30 to 70 years) died prematurely from these conditions in 2015. Low-income and lower-middle-income countries are disproportionately affected, with 47 percent (7 million) of all premature deaths from NCDs occurring in these regions.
• WHO has developed detailed implementation guidance on some specific risk factors e.g. tobacco, alcohol, salt, TFA, physical inactivity, violence against children, road traffic injuries and suicides.
• WHO has rolled out cost-effective interventions to address NCD risk factors and there is good experience of implementation, but still, coverage is not at scale.
• This requires action across sectors: finance, agriculture, environment, trade, transport, energy, education, sport, social protection. Sector-specific agendas are needed.
• People-centered policies need to be designed to create environments that support healthy lifestyles. Cities may be targeted as they are responsible for shaping the environments for the majority of the world’s population, are linked to high exposure to the different NCD risks, but yet provide greater opportunities to establish intersectoral policies.
• Public policies may shape critical settings e.g. schools, public workplaces, while private employers may be shown the advantage of NCD prevention policies on the workplace.
• NCD risks are driven by large economic interests but prevention can be made into an opportunity for economic development: e.g. new transport solutions, healthier food options. Public policies and incentives may drive the shift.

 

11:00-12:30| PS 3.1: Solutions to reduce air pollution  to address NCDs

Objectives:

• How to reduce NCDs burden by tackling air pollution through multisectoral action?
• What tools are available to support countries tackling air pollution and its health impacts?
• Example of a pilot project on how cities can apply health-in-all policy approach to choose policies that will reduce air pollutant emissions and promote health.

Key messages:

• Air pollution is a global issue that concerns 91% of the world. It affects the population in every region, every setting, and of all ages and socio-economic status. 
• 1 out of 8 deaths are related to diseases affected by air pollution and 79% of these deaths are non-communicable diseases.
• Identifying the sources of air pollution is the first key step to choose the most effective sectorial interventions.
• Solutions exist but they require multisectoral action (energy, land use planning, agriculture, etc) and a coordinated mechanism at the different levels of government: local and national, but also at regional and international levels.
• There are a growing number of tools to support countries and cities to address air pollution and related health impacts.

 

11:00-12:30| PS 3.2:  Comprehensive approaches to prevent NCDs and promote mental health (MPOWER, SAFER, ACTIVE)

Objectives:

• Highlight the different elements in the three technical packages (MPOWER, SAFER, ACTIVE) and their linkages with the SDGs.
• Present country successful experiences in the implementation of policies and measures related to the three technical packages.
• Identify challenges facing the implementation at the country level and how WHO support addressing them.
• Agree on the way forward to accelerate actions for the full implementation of the three technical packages.

Key messages:

• Non-smoking, no or less alcohol and more physical activity decrease the global burden of noncommunicable diseases and contribute to the sustainable development
• Effective and cost-effective interventions are available and WHO has put them together in high impact packages for implementation of national and sub-national levels. 
• Implementation of risk factor reduction of NCDs calls for increased political commitment, improvement regulatory infrastructure and of the capacity of human resources and has clear financial implications.
• Countries need to scale up the policies and actions to ban smoking, reduce the use of alcohol and increase physical activity to achieve global sustainable development goals.

 

11:00-12:30| PS 3.4: WHO tools to strengthen NCD surveillance and accountability

Objectives:

• How to strengthen and sustain surveillance, monitoring and accountability systems for NCDs?
• What are the available WHO tools for NCD surveillance?
• What are the innovative ways of financing surveillance activities at the country level?
• What are the challenges and successes of countries implementing NCD surveillance?

Key messages:

• What gets measured, gets done.
• NCD Surveillance is a key component to the broader NCD prevention and control strategy and programs. 
• Periodic and representative data is crucial for setting baselines and monitoring progress made in NCD control and achieving national and global targets including the “triple billion” targets for WHO.
• Less than 40 countries have recent and comprehensive data on key NCD risk factors for both adults and youth.
• Sustained monitoring of NCD risk factors is a challenge for low- and middle-income countries.
• WHO has the technical capacity and tools to build and enhance the capacity of countries to undertake population-based monitoring of key NCD risk factors.
• Strengthening data on NCD morbidity and mortality is also critical. WHO has tools and technical assistance available to scale up CRVS systems and improve patient and program monitoring for NCDs.

 

LUNCH AND HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT: OPENING PLENARY

12:30-14:00 | Lunch & Supporting  countries to scale up care for mental, neurological and substance abuse conditions 

12:30-14:00 | Fiscal Measures for health: Accelerators for financing SDG responses and preventing NCDs

14:00-14.30| High-level segment: Keynote Speeches by Government of Oman and WHO

14:30-16.00| High-level segment Panel 1: Rapid progress and quick results in addressing NCDs are possible

Key messages:

• WHO’s investment case for NCDs is clear: a 15% reduction in premature mortality could be achieved by implementing 16 WHO best buys for NCDs in low- and lower-middle-income countries alone. This will save almost 10 million premature deaths from NCDs by 2025 and generate US$350 billion in economic growth between now and 2030. In addition,  every US$1 invested in the WHO best buys will yield a return of at least US$7 by 2030. 
• Despite the first promising signs at the global level of improved health outcomes for NCDs, overall global progress remains insufficient.  At current rates, an estimated 40-50 countries are on track to reach SDG target 3.4 by 2030, an additional 50 countries will only need to slightly intensify their efforts. However, other countries need to significantly scale up their efforts during the next 3 to 5 years if they are to attain SDG target 3.4.
• There is also an urgent need to scale up service provision and care to promote mental health and well-being. Each year 800,000 people die from suicide and 80% will occur in developing countries. Suicide mortality rate is an indicator of SDG target 3.4.
• There is no UHC without addressing NCDs and mental health conditions. Countries need to ensure NCDs and mental health conditions essential components of Universal Health Coverage and affordable health services for all.
• Governments can generate revenue streams for health by implementing the three main fiscal measures recommended by WHO. These fiscal measures are highly effective, but political will is needed to counter powerful vested interests against them.

 

16:00-16.30| High-level segment: Launch of WHO Independent High-level Commission on NCDs Report

16:30-18.00| High-level segment, Panel 2 on Partnering in new ways to implement solutions for the prevention and control of NCDs and mental health

Key messages:

• In 2018, Heads of State and Government committed to provide strategic leadership for NCD responses by promoting policy coherence and coordination for the development of whole-of-government, health-in-all-policies approaches and for the engagement of stakeholders in whole-of-society action, including through the establishment of national multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder mechanisms.
• Meaningful civil society participation is critical to raise awareness, monitor progress, and advocate against discrimination and human rights violations, especially for people living with NCDs and mental disorders and other mental health conditions.
• Engagements with the private sector, which are guided by national public health interests, and effectively address industry interference and manage conflicts of interest are a valuable contribution to the implementation of national responses to NCDs and mental health.
• The broader United Nations system should enhance their actions to support the implementation of national NCD and mental health priorities, including through existing tools and platforms, such as the UNIATF, for multi-stakeholder engagement and dialogue.

 

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 (WHO Multi-stakeholders Partners’ Forum on NCDs)

09:00-10:30| Plenary 5: Collaborative governance for NCDS:  Multisectoral and multistakeholder action to accelerate regional and country-level responses

Objectives:

For countries, WHO and partners to present successful experiences on establishing or strengthening sustainable multisectoral and multistakeholder mechanisms that promote policy coherence through whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches for effective prevention and control of NCDs and mental health conditions.

• How can the health sector better persuade non-health agencies and other partners to collaborate and act on NCD prevention and control interventions?
• How can the non-health sectors and non-State actors be inspired to further engage and collaborate towards preventing and controlling NCDs and mental health conditions?

Key messages:

•  Addressing NCD risk factors and determinants - including social, economic, environmental and commercial determinants - in an effective way requires political will and commitment for implementing whole-of-government, whole-of-society and health-in-all policies approaches.
• The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a renewed impetus for collaborative action to address complex, interconnected development challenges and for the achievement of health and good governance. The world is seeing the first promising signs of improved health outcomes for NCDs and mental health conditions. However, overall global progress remains insufficient. At current rates, only an estimated 40-50 countries are on track to reach SDG target 3.4 by 2030.
• The 2018 Political Declaration re-prioritized commitments from Heads of State and Governments to provide strategic leadership that can ensure policy coherence and coordinated action for the prevention and control of NCDs and mental health conditions. This requires both a coherent multi-sectoral approach, as well as mechanisms for multi-stakeholder involvement, including civil society, academic institutions, philanthropic foundations, the private sector, the UN Development System, and others.   However, sectors outside of health have their own agenda and achieving buy-in and agreement on concepts and solutions from such a diverse range of stakeholders is rarely straightforward. Potential challenges include competing economic, market and commercial interests;  lack of a common vision; absent or weak institutional frameworks and ineffective plans for multisectoral and multistakeholder engagement; and limited resources to implement agreed actions beyond the health sector.
• To address these challenges, some countries have already developed and funded comprehensive and effective national multisectoral policies and plans to achieve national NCD targets; established permanent multisectoral or multistakeholder mechanisms for planning, designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating these policies and plans;   and developed clearly defined procedures that protect against undue influence by any form of real, perceived, or potential conflict of interest.

 

MULTISECTORAL AND MULTISTAKEHOLDER GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY (PARALLEL SESSIONS)

11:00-12:30| PS 5.1: Multisectoral coordination: Alignment and accountability at the national level for shared public health goals

Objectives:

Multisectoral approach

• What ministries should be included in NCMs and how to involve them in the health field?
• How to get the highest level of leadership in order for the NCM to be the most effective?

Multistakeholder approach

• What can be the barriers and challenges in involving the non-state actors in NCMs?
• What are good practices to encourage the United Nations system to take a more active part in NCMs?
• How to promote and strengthen transparency for all stakeholders involved in NCMs?
• How to prevent the risk of conflicts of interest when including private sector?

Adaptation to national context and operational NCMs

• How to adapt the model of NCM to the specific national context where it will be implemented?
• What can be the outcomes of a national coordination mechanism?
• What does the success of a NCM look like (concrete example)?
• What has the NCM achieved that you could not achieve without?

 

Key messages:

 

• Promoting multisectoral coordination and multistakeholder dialogues at the national level is a crucial way to address NCD risk factors and determinants and advance the implementation of NCD and mental health national priorities. National coordination mechanisms, such as national NCDs commissions and equivalents of the GCM/NCDs, are a valuable tool for governments.
• To date, the establishment of permanent multisectoral or multistakeholder mechanisms has been very challenging despite strong political calls for their implementation. Best practices and guidance are needed to assist the Member States. Coordination must be led at the highest level, in order to encourage other ministries than health to be part of the mechanism. This multisectoral approach is crucial when addressing the multiple determinants of NCDs. National coordination mechanisms may also include a large range of non-State actors. In a multistakeholder approach, civil society with NGOs play a major role, but academia has to be included as well.
• The private sector is another category of non-State actors whose involvement in NCMs is relevant. it is thought that these government sectors are more responsive than non-State actors to agreed approaches as a part of an NCD NCM and that by engaging with relevant sectors, policy coherence and better implementation can be achieved. However, conflicts of interest may arise. The strategies used by corporate actors to “promote products and choices that are detrimental to health” are sometimes defined as “commercial determinants of health”. A framework of engagement, which has to be adapted to the national context and the economic environment, has to be implemented in order to avoid industry interference.

 

11:00-12:30| PS 5.2: Global economic system and NCDs: Collaborative innovative solutions

 

Objectives:

• The background and rationale to the need for national frameworks for surveillance of the impact of unhealthy commodity industries on health.
• The three key theoretical constructs that underpin the proposed framework – namely the commercial determinants of health model described by Kickbush et al., the socio-ecological model, and the epidemiologic cascade described by Jahiel.
• Existing frameworks for assessing/monitoring corporate impact on health that have been developed in the last twenty years, including the practices and impacts of unhealthy commodity corporations on health identified in literature. (none of these are from the national or governmental perspective).
• Practices of unhealthy commodity corporations that impact health, potential surveillance indicators, proposed data sources and regulatory action.
• A proposed feasible framework for national level, governmental public health surveillance the impact of unhealthy commodity industries on health.
• Where and how fiscal measures have been implemented, such as taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB), and what has been the impact on prevention and control of NCDs.
• How have countries and partners addressed the needs to incorporate the application of global concepts and approaches of health to local contexts.
• What is an example of a community-based approach to address NCD risk factors that effectively engage with Private sector?

Key messages:

• Private sector entities can support national NCD responses by better aligning their action with government policy to promote public health outcomes for NCDs through changing the way they produce, market, advertise, and sell their products, such as making efforts to reformulate food products to provide healthy and nutritious options, reducing the excessive use of salts, sugars, and saturated fats,  and eliminate industrially-produced trans-fats in food.
• It is equally important that the private sector not impede policy, legislative, and regulatory action. These actions will help reduce healthcare costs and unlock the transformative potential of the private sector to contribute to SDG target 3.4.
• The private sector can also help mitigate the impact of the social determinants of NCDs and mental health conditions, such as in the fields of energy and transport, including reducing air pollution, and promoting healthy workplaces.
• In addition, the private sector can play a role in improving access to safe, affordable, effective, and quality essential diagnostics, medicines, vaccines, and technologies and strengthening systems for delivering healthcare in line with government policies, including through their knowledge and experience of supply chains.
• WHO is in a unique position to influence the private sector to enhance its impact on global public health and to influence the social determinants of health, as well as to disseminate and promote adherence by non-State actors to WHO’s policies, norms, and standards as well as rigorously analysing evidence of the impact of private sector interventions.

 

11:00-12:30| PS 5.3: Investment cases for NCD prevention and control for country-level impact

Objectives:

• To examine what arguments and incentives governments have responded to and the ways countries have utilized the results of the investment case to inform national policies and scaled up multisectoral action and national responses to NCDs.

Key messages:

• Identify ways in which the investment cases have been used to best advocate for fiscal policies to improve better health outcomes.
• Lessons learned from investment cases at the country level. 
• Discuss whether ministries of health and finance are well-aligned in terms of using economic arguments from the investment cases to advance health through policymaking.
• Discuss ways forward in strengthening multisectoral action aligned with the SDG3 Global Action Plan to reach SDG 3.4.
• Reduction of consumption at country level of health-harming products through taxation and regulation.
• Suggested actions to protect policymaking and taxation of health-harming products from industry interference.
• Demonstrate examples of strengthened collaboration and commitment between country, UN agencies and non-state actors.

 

11:00-12:30| PS 5.4: Overcoming national implementation challenges: Prioritized research agenda to address NCDs and promote mental health through a health systems lens

Objectives:

• Where have Member States implemented ‘best buys’ or evidence-based interventions for NCDs? Who has done it… and how? And if not; why haven’t they been implemented?
• How might health systems and implementation research support the prioritization of the most efficient and cost-effective methods of implementing individual health services and population health NCD interventions to achieve SDG target 3.4 by 2030?
• Measuring the concrete and tangible of the health system is more straight forward than the contextual setting that drives ideas and change. What practical approaches are there for understanding the health system, context, and complexities of introducing new services and interventions for NCDs?
• What are some approaches to capacity building to conduct and apply implementation research at the country and regional level (for example, intersectoral collaboration, political mobilization, training, and sustained financing)?

Key messages:

• There is a need to take a health system lens as part of developing a research agenda, as many NCD interventions occur at the intersection of individual health services and population health interventions with implications for the core function of service delivery, as well as upstream challenges in policymaking and systems reform.
• Health systems and implementation research is key to supporting this health system transformation to achieve both UHC and SDG 3.4. It works by providing a useful set of theories, approaches and tools to turn ‘best buys’ and evidence-based interventions into implemented programs.
• Moving evidence-based interventions, such as the WHO “Best Buys” for NCDs into policy and practice, will look different in each Member State as contextual lessons need to be incorporated into the intervention and the implementation process.

 

12:30-14:00 | Civil Society Caucus: Maximising the potential and expertise of civil society in national NCD responses

 

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS (PARALLEL SESSIONS)

16:00-17:30| PS 6.1: Digital by Design - Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health into the NCD Response

Objectives:

• What are the major opportunities offered by digital health in responding to NCDs? How can countries safely leverage these technologies and avoid the emergence of a digital divide?
• Do we know enough about the potential ethical and governance issues that applications of artificial intelligence are raising in public health? 
• Do we know successful cases of business models for scale and sustainability in combatting NCDs using digital health solutions?
• Do we know enough about the algorithms that are used to generate the outputs? •    Are these algorithms adapted for high-, low- and middle-income countries?
• What safeguards need to be in place as scientists develop and advance the use of artificial intelligence in the fields of clinical and public health?
• How can the global community ensure that low- and middle-income countries are as able to reap the benefits of these developments as high-income countries?
• What are the limitations, level of inclusiveness and quality of data sets used for self-learning artificial intelligence algorithms? 
• What can we learn from the use of artificial intelligence in other areas of public policy that would help us navigate the pitfalls associated with this new technology?

 

16:00-17:30| PS 6.2: Urban health initiative: Catalysing change at city level

Objectives:

• What catalyzes changes and actions to reduce NCDs in cities? What is the role of citizens empowerment and engagement?
• What tools are cities using to make health initiatives successful and support people to take actions to tackle NCDs and improve health?
• How cities can apply a health-in-all policy approach/ collaboration beyond the health sector to choose policies that will promote health in communities and cities?

Key messages:

• More than 50% of the population lives, works, and plays in cities. Therefore, cities play a crucial role for sustainable development and health promotion as well as prevention, treatment, management and rehabilitation of NCDs in every region, every setting, and of all ages and socio-economic status.
• Cities contribute the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. 23% of all deaths are linked to environmental factors, such as chemicals, radiation, noise, occupation or work-related risks as well as housing and road safety.
• health sector needs to work beyond its borders and through partnerships across government, society and cities: address challenges that affect health, such as poverty, malnutrition, poor education, gender inequality, poor water and sanitation, and social inequality among others. •    Increasing concerns are emerging regarding commercial and economic determinants of health,
• including the negative public health impacts of trade and investment agreements. Lack of coherence between health and trade policies can lead to reduced equity in access to health services; increased flows of unhealthy commodities; limits on access to medicines; and constrained policy space for health.
• Health promotion strategies have been shown to work innumerable times: health promotion have many successful health-in-all-policies (HiAP)/health beyond health sector experiences. Public policies and decisions outside of the health sector have the most impact on citizens’ health and its determinants.
• The context for urban policies extent from urban design for behavioral factors to risks and morbidity and mortality. The factors are related to urban design, such as transport, green spaces, land use, but also providing choices for behavioral changes and take care of one’s own health to avoid risk factors for NCDs and prevent premature death.

 

16:00-17:30| PS 6.3: Strategic roundtable on the role of faith-based organizations: Accelerating delivery of NCD and mental health services at community level

Objectives:

• Which unique features, do FBOs have, if any, that can support Member States in their national efforts to tackle NCDs and Mental Health conditions?
• What are FBOs’ good practices on addressing NCDs and what are some successful stories of FBOs involved in preventing and controlling NCDs?
• What are the barriers and challenges that can be identified in scaling-up such practices?
• What lessons can be learned from FBOs’ experiences in other programmatic areas (e.g. in HIV, TB, malaria, reproductive health, child health)?
• What are some recommended ways forward (including through development of partnerships between FBOs and other non-State actors at community level) for FBOs to support Member States in their national efforts to tackle NCDs as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Key messages:

• The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a renewed impetus for joined-up action to address complex, contemporary problems and for the achievement of health and good governance. These SDG goals are ‘integrated and indivisible’ and both the private and public sector are needed to achieve them. Among the civil society organizations, FBOs have a role to play.
• Secular organizations, private stakeholders and government institutions would benefit from a better collaboration with FBOs on health-related issues. The 2018 Political declaration on NCDs prioritized and put a strong emphasis on scaling up multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral responses in the context of the 2030 Agenda.
• FBOs engagement on NCDs should follow impact-oriented solutions, considering the community context and capacity of the organization. Context is important that approaches and influence vary considerably by country.
• FBOs should be broadly engaged through multistakeholder action as defined by the “whole-of-society” approach, especially be recognized as partners of any integrated mechanisms on NCDs such as National coordination mechanisms. It seems necessary to include FBOs in policy dialogue in order to position them as relevant partners in achieving UHC.
• Models of collaboration between member-States and faith-based groups exist that could be adapted for sustainable engagement; partnership with multireligious coordinating bodies such as inter-religious councils show particular promise.

 

16:00-17:30| PS 6.4: Financing NCD prevention and treatment for equity: Costing UHC packages to address NCDs and mental health conditions

Objectives:

Raising the revenue

• What are the strategies, funding mechanisms and best practices that countries can adopt to mobilize sufficient domestic resources for UHC?
• What innovative financing options are available to countries to address the growing burden of NCDs? What is the role of non-State actors, particularly the private sector, in helping governments mobilize resources?
• What are the challenges to ensure prioritization of health in public budgets for UHC and SDG 3.4?

Designing the basic package of benefits

• What criteria (inclusion and exclusion) should be used for selection of disease control priorities and subsequently services/interventions for inclusion in the HBP?
• How much does the burden of disease and cost-effectiveness actually determine the allocation of resources?
• What is the role of the political context, available resources and health system barriers in managing and implementing health benefit packages?
• How can the quality of services be ensured in benefit packages for UHC?

Getting services to the right people

• What are the strategies to ensure the services reach the most disadvantaged and vulnerable population groups to ensure equity?
• What is the role of different stakeholders (patient groups, civil society, private sector) in priority setting exercise?

Key messages:

• UHC, as one of the SDG health targets, is critical to achieving improved levels and distribution of health and to reaching SDG 3.4;
• National strategies and plans with clear priorities and budgets are essential to mobilizing resources for UHC and achieving SDG 3.4;
• Cost-effectiveness analysis may not be enough for determining which health interventions should be included in benefit packages, as it only assumes a single constraint in the form of the budget constraint;
• The implementation of health policies has a higher likelihood of success if human resource needs are taken into account and planned for;
• Achieving UHC and SDG 3.4 will require action beyond health systems, including measures to reduce health inequities by addressing the social determinants of health;
• Bolder political commitments and coherence of global and national policies, more funding and strengthened technical, legal, and managerial capacities are needed to achieve UHC and reach SDG 3.4 by 2030.

 

18:30-19:15| Addressing the double burden of malnutrition and NCDs: From evidence to programmes and policy