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FOREWORD
The decision by the United Nations General Assembly to hold a high-level meeting on
noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in September 2011 represents a significant milestone
and opportunity. It was a result achieved only through the collective action of many
different stakeholders over many years.
As part of the build-up to the UN high-level meeting, the World Health Organization was
invited to undertake regional consultations to provide an input into
the preparations for the
high-level meeting as well as the meeting itself. By early April 2001, all six WHO regions
had completed their consultations, and informal dialogues with NGOs and the private sector
were undertaken in November 2010.
Capitalizing on the opportunity presented by the First Global Ministerial Conference on
Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Disease Control in Moscow on 28-29 April, the
World Health Organization decided to convene a multi-stakeholder Forum on NCDs the
day before, to help ensure that the perspectives of a range of important stakeholders were
able to inform the discussions at the Ministerial Conference.
The WHO Global Forum: Addressing the challenge of noncommunicable diseases was an
important new development, building on the consultations undertaken previously and
bringing together the full range of interested stakeholders to share and listen to each other's
views and experiences. I am pleased to provide this report on the WHO Global Forum,
which I hope does justice to the richness and breadth of the discussion held on 27 April in
Moscow. The Report and other Forum documents are available on the WHO website.
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Finally, I wish to thank the Government of the Russian Federation for the financial and
practical support that made the Forum possible. WHO looks forward to continuing to work
with all stakeholders both ahead of and beyond the UN high-level meeting in September to
effectively address the global health challenge of NCDs.
Dr Ala Alwan
Assistant
Director-General
Noncommunicable diseases and mental health
World Health Organization
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http://www.who.int/nmh/events/global_forum_ncd/en/
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FORUM REPORT
I.
I
NTRODUCTION
Noncommunicable diseases are increasingly recognized as a major global health challenge
that requires a response by all sectors of society. The decision
by the United Nations
General Assembly to convene a high-level meeting (HLM) on noncommunicable diseases in
September 2011, with the participation of Heads of State and Government, presents a
unique opportunity for the full range of stakeholders to shape that response.
The WHO Global Forum: Addressing the Challenge of Noncommunicable Diseases was
convened to bring together a wide group of stakeholders to share
views and experiences to
date on the challenges and opportunities in noncommunicable disease prevention and
control.
The Forum set out to raise awareness of the September 2011 HLM on noncommunicable
diseases, and to provide input into the preparation for the HLM as well as discussions on
noncommunicable diseases at the sixty-fourth World Health Assembly in May 2011.
In contrast to previous consultations and dialogues convened by WHO on
noncommunicable diseases, the Forum brought together the different stakeholders in a
format that allowed for discussion and interaction rather than a two way dialogue between
WHO and individual stakeholder groups. The intention was to create an opportunity for the
different groups to listen and respond to each other to allow WHO to canvass a wider and
richer range of views to inform its work on noncommunicable diseases.
The Forum was held immediately prior to the First Global Ministerial Conference on
Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Diseases in Moscow on 28 and 29 April 2011.
This provided an opportunity for the outcomes of the Forum to directly inform the
Ministerial Conference and its outcomes. In order to provide access to the Forum for
people unable to attend in person, the Forum plenary sessions were webcast live and can still
be viewed online.
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Webcasts of the WHO Global Forum plenary sessions are available at:
http://www.who.int/nmh/events/global_forum_ncd/mediacentre/en/