FAQs

Launched in 2018, the Knowledge Action Portal on NCDs (KAP) is an online knowledge repository and community platform focused on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

The KAP is designed as an inclusive, community-driven platform facilitating a coherent multisectoral and multistakeholder response to the global NCD epidemic. Connecting diverse stakeholders and actors at local, national and international levels, the KAP is a core tool for knowledge sharing and mutual learning, collaboration in digital communities of practice, and the uptake of evidence-based solutions, lessons learned, and best practices.

The KAP is hosted by WHO’s Global Coordination Mechanism on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (WHO GCM/NCD), and additionally connects to the work of the Global NCD Platform (GNP) Department, the United Nations Interagency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of NCDs (UNIATF), and the GNP Director’s Office.

Read more about the KAP

Recognizing that NCDs constitute one of the major challenges for development in the 21st century and require a multisectoral and multi-stakeholder approach, as stressed in the Moscow Declaration adopted during the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control (Moscow, 28-29 April 2011), the UN General Assembly has convened three high-level meetings on NCDs.

The 2011 high level meeting resulted in a UN Political Declaration, in which multiple commitments were made for the prevention and management of NCDs by countries, and multilateral and donor agencies. Subsequently, WHO Member States agreed to a 25% reduction in premature NCD mortality by 2025 (25x25) and then adopted a set of risk factor and health system targets which, if met, would ensure achievement of the 25x25 mortality target.

In addition, the 2018 high-level meeting theme was on “Scaling up multi-stakeholder and multisectoral responses for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Here the meeting adopted the declaration, which included a range of relevant resolutions on the need for multisectoral and multistakeholder action which can be found here.

The fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs in 2025 will be a time to accelerate action on premature deaths from NCDs of 15 million people each year since the third high-level meeting took place in 2018 – projected to be more than a 100 million by 2025. It will also provide an opportunity to adopt a new, ambitious and achievable Political Declaration on NCDs based on evidence, grounded in human rights, that will serve as an important roadmap to advance the global NCD response between 2025 and 2030.

You can also find reference to the importance of multisectoral and multistakeholder action for the GCM/NCD through recent high level political and governance documents:

• Montevideo Roadmap 2018-2030 on NCDs as a sustainable development priority.
  • Paragraphs 18 and 25
• WHO's Thirteenth Priority of Work 2019-2023.
  • Paragraphs 23, 70, 79 and 80
• Report of the WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs - Time to Deliver.
  • Recommendation 4F
• UN Third High Level Meeting on NCDs Resolution
• Visit the KAP knowledge repository for recent WHO and GCM publications on multisectoral and multistakeholder responses

The KAP is a platform facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration in several areas:

• Knowledge repository and country stories: Users associated with a GCM Participant can directly contribute their own relevant knowledge resources to the repository.
• Communities of Practice: In thematic communities of practice, users can access and share knowledge resources, news and events, or join discussion threads.
• Additional user and community functionality: The GCM secretariat is currently working to build additional knowledge sharing and community features for KAP users.

Would you like to start your own community or contribute to the KAP? Contact us.

NCDs are now firmly embedded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Numerous high-level events and reports on the prevention and control of NCDs have raised political awareness and stressed the importance of policy coherence and multistakeholder action to tackle NCDs as a development challenge. In addition, the United Nations Third High Level Meeting on NCDs focused on scaling up action for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases; financing for the prevention and control of NCDs; promotion of multisectoral partnerships for the prevention and control of NCDs; and political leadership and accountability.

The KAP fulfills an existing mandate of the WHO Global Coordination Mechanism on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases. In its 2022-2025 Work Plan, the GCM/NCD commits to act as:

• Operational backbone for knowledge collaboration and the dissemination of innovative multistakeholder responses at country level, by raising awareness and promoting knowledge collaboration among Member States and non-State actors and by co-creating, enhancing and disseminating evidence-based information to support governments on effective multisectoral and multistakeholder approaches. (Priority Area 1).

Further, the workplan calls upon the GCM to:

• Enhance and realign the Knowledge Action Portal (KAP) to support GCM/NCD activities and GCM/NCD Participants (Action 1.1.),
• Expand data and information including stocktaking of global, regional and country level multisectoral and multistakeholder experiences, community engagement and action, best practices, and success stories from GCM/NCD Participants. (Activity 1.1.1.)
• Adapt KAP to enhance the functionalities for improved knowledge collaboration across GCM/NCD Participants across the workplan activities. (Activity 1.1.2)

When signing up to the KAP, we will ask for information that personally identifies you. This information will include your name, location, and email address, and will be used by our admin team to identify you and grant you access to the user-specific functionality of the platform. Your personal details will be available in the contacts section of your profile.

Your email address will also be used as the primary channel for the KAP to communicate alerts, news, discussions, new developments, and resources. You can change the preferences for email alerts in the profile section. At no time is communication within the system anonymous.

The World Health Organization has a Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA). The Framework endeavours to strengthen WHO engagement with non-State actors (Non-Governmental Organizations, private sector entities, philanthropic foundations, and academic institutions), while protecting its work from potential risks such as conflict of interest, reputational risks, and undue influence.

All resources featured on the KAP are either publications led by and/or cleared after being reviewed by WHO. Resources are submitted by GCM/NCD Participants whos have passed the FENSA screening process.

In addition, all registered users have to agree to the community guidelines and confirm they don't have any formal association, affiliation or link, with the tobacco or arms industry, or any subsidiary of a tobacco/arms company or commercial entity involved with the manufacture, sale, or distribution of tobacco/arms or tobacco related products.

A variety of safeguards exist within the design and functionality of the KAP. As a principal, unregistered users are unable to suggest resources for upload, comment on any aspect of the site, or submit information to any of the sections. Individuals accessing the site as an unregistered user will be restricted to read-only content which has been approved and uploaded by site administrators.

Only GCM Participants are granted access to contact the administrator with resources for consideration. To become a GCM Participants, these entities have already undergone a strict due diligence and risk assessment/management process aligned with WHO policies including FENSA. Ultimately, the administrator team decides whether the resource should be published, revised, or rejected.

To join individual Communities, all registered users have to apply and are assessed by the Community Moderator Team and/or the KAP administrator team. All resources shared by a community member remain within the closed environment of that community. Where community resources are publicly available, they are vetted by the admin team or WHO focal points with moderating rights.

To the public sections of the KAP, only users with a GCM Participant profile are able to submit knowledge resources, country stories, news, and events. Resources will be screened and approved by the GCM secretariat. If the public sections of the KAP are missing your resource or story, please contact us.

In the community sections, community moderators are able to add and approve resources. Contact your moderator team for further information.

No. The KAP serves a repository of resources from WHO and a wide range of GCM Participants across sectors. Featured resources are not duplicated nor endorsed by WHO.

To contribute to building a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable future through action on NCDs. The KAP is a practical tool geared at making sure that individuals, actors and organizations across stakeholders, sectors, and disciplines are part of a global movement to address NCDs and have access to the latest, best and most usable information. Share your insights, best practices and knowledge to help to help others, and contribute to a growing evidence base that can make a true difference to NCD action at all levels of society.

Any person can create a profile within the platform - given they have no links to the tobacco and firearms industry, and that the necessary safeguards are met to protect WHO’s work from potential risks such as conflict of interest, reputational risks, and/or undue influence. In addition to creating a personalized profile, registration allows users to join communities and save specific search result or content/collections.

Please note that individual registration does not automatically enable access to all communities. For closed communities, registered users must apply separately to join.

Only registered users can access community content. Registering on the KAP and/or logging-in are hence the first step to take.

You can then browse our growing list of communities. Some community content is readily available to all registered KAP users, while some communities are limited to selected groups and users. You can apply to join these communities by filling in the respective form. The community moderating team will then assess your request and grant access as per their membership rules.

You can reset your password using the “Forgot password?” function on the sign in page. If you encounter persisting technical difficulties or don't receive the password on the email you entered, please contact us.

If you are a GCM Participant, you can contact the admin team to activate your upload rights. Once approved, you can add content via your user profile or using the blue buttons in the respective page sections.

As a KAP user without a GCM participant profile, you can join and share in a community, or contact us.

You can contact the administrator team via the contact form.