NCDs (non-communicable chronic diseases), which include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and renal disease cause 60% of all deaths globally. These conditions share common risk factors (including tobacco use, physical inactivity , alcohol consumption and unhealthy diets) and also share common solutions, which provide a mutual platform for collaboration and joint advocacy.
After the High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) convened by the United Nations (UN) in September 2011, there has been wide acceptance by global policymakers and international funding agencies that NCDs are collectively a major threat to health and development. The commitment to provide a concerted global response is reflected in the target to reduce premature NCD mortality by 25 per cent by 2025, set by WHO and the UN, along with an additional nine targets focusing on risk factors and secondary prevention as a means to achieving reduction in mortality and morbidity.
Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences is organizing the First NCD Congress in the UAE in January 2014. According to WHO report Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) cause 67% of total deaths in the UAE. Therefore, we felt that there is a need for collaboration of all concerned associations, civil society and academia to get together and produce and support the establishment of an ethical framework and try to guide Medical community, NGO and private sector partners in this pathway.