World Diabetes Foundation Statement at the UN multi-stakeholder meeting, May 2025

Statement from Bent Lautrup-Nielsen, Head of Global Advocacy at the World Diabetes Foundation 

'Presidency of the General Assembly, the Permanent Representative to the United Nations of Luxembourg and St. Vincent-Grenadines, Honorable Delegates of this multi-stakeholder hearing, the fourth UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health, later this year, must focus on implementation and scale-up of solutions which have already proven effective for NCD prevention and control and which are already part of government strategies. There are many examples of significant progress since the third High-Level Meeting on NCDs back in 2018. In more countries, there is now access to basic services for diabetes, hypertension and other NCDs at primary care level. 

This was a goal we set in 2018. Progress has been made and must be scaled globally. In more countries, NCDs are now part of health system planning and monitoring. 

This was a goal we set in 2018. Progress has been made and must be scaled globally. And in more countries, there is today much more focus on NCD prevention and especially on determinants of health and on the inclusion of people with lived NCD experience. 

These were goals we set in 2018. Progress has been made and must be scaled globally. The fourth UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health, later this year, is framed under the themes of equity and integration. 

Since the third High-Level Meeting in 2018, the world has confirmed here at the UN, in 2019 and in 2023, that only through the full and affordable integration of NCDs into healthcare service delivery packages, focusing on primary care, will universal health coverage be achievable. Since 2018, the world went through the COVID pandemic, which showed us all that those most vulnerable to the virus infection were people living with NCDs. Honorable Delegates, The fourth UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs, later this year, must be the decisive turning point in the history of global health, where the world finally and unanimously agrees to reshape health systems towards people-centered care.

The fourth UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs must be that turning point in the history of global health, where multi-sectoral frameworks mandated by highest political leadership, once and for all, is agreed upon by the world as the only viable way forward to halt the rise of NCDs. The fourth UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health must become that moment when the convergence of resource mobilization and political commitment will accelerate and culminate so that we can indeed achieve the targets set for prevention and control of diabetes and other NCDs by 2030. I thank you.'

Watch the statement here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7325110722949013504