WMA 11.7 NCDs

THE WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, INC.
L’ASSOCIATION MEDICALE MONDIALE, INC
ASOCIACION MEDICA MUNDIAL, INC
Centre International de Bureaux
Immeuble A «Keynes» Website : www.wma.net Postal Address :
13, chemin du Levant Telephone : (33) 4 50 40 75 75 Boîte Postale 63
01210 FERNEY-VOLTAIRE Fax : (33) 4 50 40 59 37 01210 FERNEY-VOLTAIRE Cedex
France E-mail address : wma@wma.net France
71st
World Health Assembly
11.7: Preparation for the third High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention
Control of Non-communicable Diseases
Honourable Chairperson, Distinguished Delegates,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the World Medical Association (WMA), which
represents more than 9 million physicians from over 112 countries across the globe.
We welcome the multisectoral engagement offered by the Global Coordination Mechanism on the
prevention and control of NCDs. We also acknowledge the efforts by WHO Secretariat for
GCM/NCD and WHO DG for launching an independent NCDs commission to accelerate national
progress on NCDs.
WMA recognize the importance given to sustainable financing of NCDs prevention and control by
organising the WHO Global Dialogue on Partnerships on this topic in Copenhagen this April. The
conference and especially the conference session – A vital investment: Scaling up health workforce
for NCDs , organised by WMA and other organisations, requested for increased investment in
scaling up of health workforce and strengthen healthcare system . Governments have to realize
spending on health is an investment since for 1 dollar spent the returns on investment in health is
estimated to be 9 dollars. NCDs can only be tackled by a strong, integrated, and ideally physician
led primary health care system.
The progress in preventing and controlling NCDs to reach target 3.4 of the SDGs 2030 has been too
slow in many countries. We ask Member States to accelerate their efforts toward NCDs through
strong political actions and inclusion of progress toward NCDs in their national SDG reviews.
Recalling the Montevideo Roadmap 2018-2030 on NCDs that asked for exploring innovative
financing mechanisms, we call for increased international and domestic financing to tackle the NCD
epidemic from both donors and national governments ahead of the UN High Level Meeting of the
General Assembly.
The WMA is committed to tackle NCDs and ready to collaborate with WHO and Member States
through National Medical Associations in achieving smart goals to control NCDs.
Thank you for your kind attention