The Eighth Meeting of the United Nations Interagency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases was hosted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 21-23 February 2017, in Geneva. The meeting was chaired by WHO and UNHCR and 28 UN agencies, programmes and funds, and regional intergovernmental organizations attended.
Providing ever greater support to governments at the country level was central to the meeting’s discussions, and there was agreement on the next set of joint programming missions, investment case missions and follow up action to take forward recommendations that have come from recent missions.
The opportunity for action at city level has been highlighted in many of the joint programming missions and the Task Force agreed to take forward a new Smart Cities initiative. There was also agreement on the direction of future work in a number of existing work steams to support countries drive forward action on NCDs (for example tobacco control, harmful use of alcohol, surveillance, and improving the management of NCDs in emergencies), as well as progress on the Task Force’s global joint programmes (cervical cancer, mobile health and catalysing multisectoral action).
The meeting took stock of how the Task Force is widening its scope of work to include the NCD-related targets included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in line with last year’s ECOSOC resolution (E/RES/2016/5). The Task Force now has clear streams of work on mental health, nutrition and road safety. Further progress was made in integrating action on NCDs and the environment into the work of the Task Force.
Other outcomes of the meeting included agreement on how the Task Force would raise the profile of human rights in the area of NCDs, a way forward for joint UN action to combat childhood obesity in line with the Global Ending Childhood Obesity Implementation Plan, and its latest communications plan.