Policy Review: Global Policy on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

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GLOBAL POLICY ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES(NCDs)
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Introduction
Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) usually take a lot of duration of time to heal,
difficult to treat and always as a result of a combination of various determinants of health
including behavioral factors, genetic, environmental and physiological characteristics(WHO,
2018). The main categories of NCDs globally include, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic
respiratory, and diabetes diseases. In major cases, NCDs affects people from developing
nationswhere about 32 million of deaths occurs(WHO, 2018). According to WHO 2018, NCDs
kills about 71% of all deaths worldwide which is equivalent to 41 million people every year. In
every year, about 15, millions of people die from NCDs between 30 to 69 years. Most of those
premature deaths caused by NCDs are usually from developing nations accounting for around
85%(World Health Organisation, 2015).
Around 17.9 million deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, followed by 9 million
from cancer, 3.9 million from respiratory diseases and 1.6 million from diabetes each
year(WHO, 2018). There four major NCDs accounts for about 80% of all NCDs deaths every
year. Major determinants of health that leads to NCDs include physical inactivity, tobacco use,
unhealthy diets and harmful use of alcohol(Tackling NCDs: the capacity of countries to respond,
no date). Major responses to these diseases include health promotion activities, screening,
detection and finally treatment including the palliative care(WHO, 2018).In order to combat this
global challenge, WHO is working with members of the United Nations to create health policies
in order to reach attainable targets. This includes working with political leaders and governments
in promoting and monitoring worldwide actions against NCD in relation with work of other
agencies(World Health Organization, 2016). This policy review intends to demonstrate evidence
that promotes the NCD policy agenda, what we have learned in addressing NCDs over the last

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10 years, major issues that need to be addressed, global actors and leadership in policy, milestone
in policy formulation and implementation, approaches used, NCD in Sustainable Development
Goals(SDGs), global targets, national and global policies roles, monitoring and coordination
mechanisms, NCDs policy key documents , challenges, and provide recommendation for the way
forward.
Evidence that Promotes the NCDs Policy Agenda
According to WHO report 2018, NCDs are responsible for around 41 million deaths
across the globe which is equivalent to 71% of all deaths. NCDs have been incorporated by
SDGs goal 3 aiming to reduce premature mortality by about 34% by 2030. In developing nations
alone, it is estimated that about seven trillion united states dollars will be lost due to NCDs
between the year 2011 to 2025(WHO, 2015c). Around 96% of the most studies investigating the
macroeconomic productivity impacts of NCDs in high-income countries show that the
productivity of a country is affected by various factors. These include disability-adjusted life
years, change and reduction in hours worked, labor market participation, presenteeism,
absenteeism, return to work and medical or sick leave(WHO, 2015c). This is due to the fact that
these major NCDs have large negative impacts on the nations’ productivity. For instance, lower
employment and absenteeism due to coronally heart disease in Australia lead to loss of 13.2
billion each year. On the other hand, the United States usually lost 5.5 billion annually due to
total mortality and productivity loss from breast cancer. In addition, NCDs creates financial
burdens to vast of affected households. This includes an increase in levels of poverty as
insurance covers limited medical support, lack of basic needs due to the use of out pocket money
for hospital bills and increases dependency ratio. Overall, 2% to 158% of all out of the pocket
bills are spend by various families across the globe due to NCDs(WHO, 2015c). Due to the

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increase in economic burden and suffering of people, many countries have recognized NCDs as a
threat and come together to make health policies together with WHO in order to eradicate the
issue.
What the world have Learned in Addressing the NCDs over the Last 10
Years
Over the past decade, there are valuable lessons learned across the globe regarding the
control and prevention of NCDs. The first major lesson learned includes the role of community,
national and global leadership and coordination in fulfilling a broad-based and coordinated
national response(Katie Kowalski, 2015). NCDs response must start with the national leadership
of the country managed and country-owned programs and strategies(Torpey and Mastro, 2016).
The NCDs responses have led to the improvement of the key components of WHO Systems
Framework which include technologies,health funding, governance, health workforce, and health
data and medical products,(Katie Kowalski, 2015). In order to address NCDs, nations have come
to know that community-based programs can generally work. In addition, NCDs response can
leverage management mechanisms, planning, and infrastructure through governance,
multisectoral strategic planning, and implementation, enhance the role of civil society, and
community mobilization(Sturke et al., 2016).
Other than, the world has come to understand NCD control requires a need development
of the high level of multisectoral committees in the response to NCD that coordinate
management, resources allocation, and policy(Katie Kowalski, 2015). Coordination of this type
with the use of national strategies would lead to the integration of NCDs within other health
sectors and international targets(Sturke et al., 2016). According to Torpey and Mastro 2016,
many nations have come notice that in addition to working across the government and use of