Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 1, 2018 (ZIZ News): Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris and president of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency, Mr. Edgar Lungu, co-chaired the first multi-stakeholder panel of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on Thursday at the United Nations Headquarters.
The meeting was held on the margins of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The high-level meeting brought together world leaders, as well as global figures, who contribute their time and resources to combat the challenges of NCDs, including philanthropist Mr. Michael Bloomberg, who is now the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global ambassador for non-communicable diseases and injuries; Ms. Zoleka Mandela, the granddaughter of former South African leader Mr. Nelson Mandela, as well as Ms. Sania Nishtar, founding president of NGO Heartfile.
The meeting sought to discuss the overall theme of scaling up multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral responses for the prevention and control of NCDs in the context of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals.
Prime Minister Harris stated that investing in the NCDs agenda not only improves health and saves lives but will also improve a country’s economic productivity.
The Prime Minister cited a report by the World Health Organization which states that if governments help the poorest countries in the world to invest us$1 per person per year in the NCDs agenda, the world will save more than 8 million lives by 2030 and generate US $350 billion in economic output.
The multi-stakeholder panel focused on “strengthening health systems and financing for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on each country’s path towards achieving universal health, including through sharing evidence-based best practices, scientific knowledge and lessons learned.”