Non-Communicable Diseases and Global Health Politics

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes are responsible for around 70% of global deaths each year. This chapter describes how NCDs have become prevalent and critically evaluates global efforts to address NCDs and their risk factors, with a particular focus on the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN system. It explores the factors that have prevented NCDs from achieving access to resources and a priority commensurate with their impact on people’s lives. The chapter evaluates the global response to NCDs both prior to and since the UN High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases held in 2011, and considers opportunities for strengthening that response in future.

This is a draft of a chapter accepted for publication by Oxford University Press in, "The Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics", edited by Colin McInnes, Kelley Lee, Jeremy Youde, 2019.

Keywords: non-communicable diseases, global governance, law, World Health Organisation, preventive health

JEL Classification: K10, K30