How to get involved: Fourth High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the prevention and control of NCDs

Background

The Fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) will be convened in 2025 as requested by Member States through resolution A/RES/73/2. The meeting will provide an opportunity to adopt a new, ambitious, and achievable political declaration on NCDs towards 2030 and 2050 based on evidence and grounded in human rights. This will serve as an important framework to accelerate the global response for the prevention and control of NCDs from 2025 onwards, to be implemented in full alignment with the commitments to reduce air pollution and promote mental health and well-being as part of the 5 by 5 agenda, as expressed in the third political declaration on the prevention and control of NCDs, and including achieving the SDGs before 2030, thus placing countries on a sustainable path into the next decades.

The preparatory process for the Fourth High-level Meeting will aim to address gaps and solutions to accelerate progress towards SDG 3.4 in 2030 and to set strategic directions towards 2050. The process will include high-level global and technical meetings, expert committees and consultations cosponsored by WHO and relevant partners, which may serve as technical inputs into the negotiations among Member States on the outcome document. Further, they may inform the recommendations to be included in the report of the WHO Director-General to the World Health Assembly 2025 through EB156 2025, titled Preparation for the Fourth High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases, to be held in 2025.

Web-based consultation process

The WHO Secretariat is launching a consultative process to enable Member States, UN organizations, non-State actors and individuals with lived experience of health conditions to provide inputs into the preparation for the Fourth UN High-level Meeting on NCDs.

Timeline of consultation opportunities

• 15 March 2024: First WHO multistakeholder briefing
• 1–26 May 2024: (Phase 1) Consultation on key priority areas to inform the recommendations to be considered in the WHO Director-General’s report to the World Health Assembly 2025
• 1–26 May 2024: Consultation on the international dialogue on sustainable financing for NCDs and mental health
• 6 May 2024: Second WHO multistakeholder briefing
• 27 May–24 June 2024: Consultation on inclusion of NCDs in humanitarian settings
• June–August 2024: Regional consultations (details to be announced)
• 1–15 August 2024: (Phase 2) Consultation on the WHO Director-General’s draft report to the World Health Assembly 2025
• May 2025: Multistakeholder forum on the zero draft of the political declaration of the Fourth UN High-level Meeting on NCDs (to be announced and led by the co-facilitators of the UN high-level meeting, to be appointed in late 2024).