100 HEALTHCARE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS SUSTAINABLE FINANCING - TACKLING NCDS IS NO EXCEPTION
Dr . Oleg Chestnov , WHO Assistant Director-General , Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health
Commentary , 11 August 2015
Each year , 16 million people die prematurely before the age of 70 from NCDs . Strikingly , 4 out of 5 of these deaths occur in developing countries like Kenya , making such diseases one of the major development challenges of the 21st century . If countries don ’ t change tack on NCDs , an estimated $ 7 trillion could be lost in developing countries over the next 15 years . This contrasts starkly with the cost of action : $ 11 billion a year to implement a set of NCD interventions in all developing countries .
I recently heard the story of Evelyne Musera , a woman being treated for her Type 2 diabetes in Nairobi . Like many Kenyans , Evelyne pays out of her own pocket for the visit , plus the medicines she needs . On top of that , her taxi fares eat into her hard-earned money , and when she skips work to visit the hospital , she is not getting paid . Many others are not so lucky , and are missing out on care altogether due to the relatively high health care costs involved .
Evelyne ’ s example offers a glimpse of what millions of people , and the governments charged with their care , are confronted by worldwide when it comes to generating the finances needed to prevent and control diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases , namely cardiovascular and lung diseases , and cancers .
Responsive sustainable development goals for NCD ’ s Later this year , countries will gather in New York for the U . N . General Assembly . They will discuss the proposed sustainable development goals , which for the first time recognize the huge impact of NCDs worldwide . The aim is to decrease premature deaths from NCDs by onethird by 2030 and to strengthen implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control .
Achieving any SDG requires sustainable domestic and international financing . NCDs have long been hidden , misunderstood and under-recorded , and were omitted from the Millennium Development Goals . As a result , NCDs have traditionally struggled to gain significant financing . They have emerged relatively unnoticed in the developing world , while the focus of the international community has been on combating HIV , AIDS , malaria and tuberculosis . But the explicit inclusion of NCDs and the WHO FCTC in the SDGs reflects the significant increase in momentum to tackle these diseases . This historic decision is grounded in the commitments made by world leaders in 2011 and 2014 at the United Nations to track the epidemic proportions of NCDs and its impact on development , make prevention the cornerstone of the global response , and strengthen health systems .
The third U . N . International Conference on Financing for Development , held July 13-16 in
Addis Ababa , Ethiopia , resulted in the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda , a new framework to finance the SDGs . This agenda highlights the enormous burden NCDs place on both developed and developing countries . It emphasizes that price and tax measures on tobacco can reduce tobacco consumption and health care costs , as well as representing a revenue stream for financing the SDGs in many countries . It commits parties to the WHO FCTC to strengthen implementation of the convention .
Financing for NCD initiatives within reach The achievements of the Addis conference went beyond the action agenda . New initiatives to implement the SDGs were announced at 6 multi-stakeholder roundtables and 180 side events , including one on financing for health organized by WHO , Barbados and Thailand . The Working Group on Financing for NCDs of the WHO Global Coordination Mechanism on NCDs presented the findings of its interim report , “ Financing National NCD Responses in the Post-2015 Era ”, that builds on commitments made in Addis Ababa .
The report highlights that significant additional investments are required to meet , by 2030 , the