We are driven by the notion that politics, especially global health politics, can be richer than the pursuit of self-interest of different actors through greater reflection on the ethical issues at stake.
Ever since a popular theory arose in the early 1970s (known as a theory of ‘epidemiologic transition’), we have become used to thinking that a country’s burden of disease shifts from acute infectious diseases to long-term chronic conditions as it develops.
Over the past few decades, however, this theory has been countered by the occurrence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in developed countries and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes) in developing and developed countries alike, as well as by the rapid acceleration in the movement of diseases and their causes across borders. While much global attention has been given to the rapid spread of infectious diseases, less attention has been given to the rising burden of chronic non-communicable diseases around the world.
To address the oversight of chronic diseases in the world’s development programmes, in September 2011 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly held a rare, special session on the prevention and control of NCDs. Such a high-level session on a health issue was held only once before, on HIV/AIDS in 2001. Partly motivated by the arguments that HIV/AIDS was not just a health crisis but also a threat to national security, 189 countries signed up to the Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS. That event proved a turning point in the global response to HIV/AIDS epidemic. The High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs aimed to create a similar turning point by galvanising an increased and coordinated global response to NCDs.
Image: David Stuckler (left) and Sridhar Venkatapuram
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Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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